Thrive
by wildpenguins
Summary: She'd lived in the quaint town of Riverdale her entire life. She kept her head down, not drawing attention to herself. She blended in with the background. Up until that fateful summer that changed the entire town. She moved from her father's house to her mom's, from the Northside to the Southside. She took charge of her life and everything changed.
1. Intro

There were a lot of differences between living with my mom and living with my dad. The obvious ones like the size of the house, the neighborhoods, the number of occupants; just to name a few. The rules were also significantly different. My dad was super strict. There were so many rules, it would make your head spin. At my mom's house, there were very few rules. Pick up after yourself; if you use the last of something make sure to write it on the list on the fridge; and if anyone knocked on the back door, I was supposed to let them in and then immediately go get my step-dad. No questions asked.

* * *

"Time to get up!" I groaned and tried to hold one of my many pillows over my head as my mom pulled the curtains and blinds open. "C'mon! You'll never be able to get up tomorrow if you sleep 'til noon today." She was right. I knew she was right. But my bed was just so comfy. And I hadn't been able to fall asleep last night over the anxiety of starting a new school shortly. One that I hadn't heard a single good thing about since I'd moved at the start of the summer.

"Rise and shine! I made hash browns!" My step-dad called from the kitchen. My bedroom was at the back of the small single-story house, just off the kitchen. It used to be a catch all. Anything they didn't want to get rid of but didn't want out in the house had ended up in here over the years. They'd had to move most of it out when I'd moved in. It still looked like a catch all, with the mismatched furniture and the mess from me living in it. But it was my own space in their house. I wasn't about to complain.

The promise of hash browns and the cheese covered eggs he made every time he made breakfast got me up and out of my bed. In the kitchen, I ducked around the pair of them and headed straight for my favorite coffee mug. Once the dark blue ceramic was full of coffee and a splash of creamer, I dropped into my usual seat at the small square table. Doc, my step-dad, dropped a plate in front of me. "Eat up kid."

"Thanks." Both he and my mom watched me eat for the first few bites. They'd taken up the habit when I'd moved in. It still freaked me out a little, but it was for their own peace of mind, so I didn't say anything about it. My eyes fell on the over-sized clock on the wall. Mom insisted it made the place seem more like a home. Doc and I both thought it looked ridiculous. "Don't you need to go to work? It's almost nine."

"Shit!" My mom called out. She rushed towards their bedroom before reappearing two seconds later with her purse and Doc's leather jacket. "Let's go, honey!" We only had one functioning vehicle right now, so Doc had to drive mom around everywhere. The garage that Doc worked at had to order some part for the truck, and it was taking forever to get here. So until then, he was stuck driving the pair of us wherever we needed to go.

"Love you!" I called after them. They both yelled it back as the door slammed shut behind them. I finished my breakfast in the quiet before cleaning up the kitchen. My last day of freedom passed quickly while I painted my nails and watched endless amounts of Netflix. Dinner that night was normal, until Doc got a phone call and had to leave quickly. It was almost one in the morning when I heard his heavy boots walking through the kitchen again. I was once again too anxious about starting at Southside High tomorrow to fall asleep at a decent time.


	2. Chapter 1

With a sigh, I recapped my chapstick before giving myself another once over in the mirror hanging by my dresser. The grey t-shirt and dark jeans I was wearing would hopefully let me blend into the crowd. I'd opted for my all black Vans instead of my favorite boots because I had to walk to school. Doc had poked his head into my room earlier to tell me he had to get to the garage early, so he wouldn't be able to drop me off on my first day. "Alright, ma, this is what I look like today."

"You look great, honey." She didn't look up from the bacon she was cooking.

"Really? So you don't think the bra top is too much?"

"No, you look great." I waited for my words to register in her brain. She turned towards me sharply. "You brat. I'm just trying to make sure you get some breakfast in you. Don't do that."

"Well don't tell me that I look good without even looking at me and I won't." She rolled her eyes as she assembled what I could only assume was supposed to be a breakfast burrito. It was a little sad appearance wise, but my mother was no chef. She had the basics down, and that was about it.

"Mobile friendly because you have to walk." I put my backpack on before taking the burrito from her. Then started towards the front door. It was just over a mile to school. If I didn't get going now, I wasn't going to make it on time.

"Thanks, mom. Love you."

"Love you too. Have a good first day!" I paused briefly on the driveway to slip my headphones in before starting my walk to Southside High. To quell my growing nerves, I focused on eating my breakfast. Halfway through the burrito, my stomach started to revolt. With a quick glance around, I stopped at a trash can sitting out for pick up and tossed the rest of my breakfast into it. When my pinky fingers started tingling, which was always the first indicator that a panic attack was brewing, I swallowed harshly and started counting out my breaths. I kept doing this until I was making my way through the high school parking lot. There was a loud group standing off to the side of the front doors, all with jackets that matched Doc's. I opted to avoid them. I might've let them into my house during the summer, but that didn't mean we were automatically friends. Or if they even knew who I was. Which honestly, I preferred it if they didn't. Getting through high school without causing any problems was my goal.

* * *

Southside High hadn't been directly affected by the murder of Jason Blossom. But it was the biggest piece of gossip over the entire first day of school. I heard snippets of conversation here and there as I wove through the unfamiliar hallways. I kept my head down and sat through the majority of my classes without incident. My last class of the day was pre-calc. And while it was my best subject, I was anxious to get out of this building, so I was barely paying attention. The teacher also seemed like he was barely paying attention. After he'd passed out the syllabus and given everyone a text book, he'd talked for five minutes before giving up and sitting at his desk.

"Hey, it's Aria, right?" My head shot up from the doodle on my paper at the sound of my name. Standing before me was a short girl with long pink streaked hair. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't place her. The look on her face told me she already knew it was my name; she didn't need me to confirm it. "You moved in with Doc and Molly over the summer." I didn't question how she knew that. The emblem on her jacket confirmed it for me.

"Yeah, yeah, I did."

"I'm Toni, Toni Topaz." She dropped into the seat next to me. "We met once before, but you didn't really stick around." She again wasn't wrong. Whenever someone came knocking at the back door of our house, I let them in and then went for a walk for a while. Our guests were usually gone by the time I got back. If not, then I just waited in the living room until they were.

"Right." I began to nervously spin the pen in my hand around my fingers.

"So, what's your story? Why'd you move from the _beautiful_ Northside to the Southside? From what I hear, you had a pretty cushy life up there." She leveled an unwavering stare at me.

"Where'd, uh, where'd you hear that?"

"She's not wrong, is she?" A new voice added. This one was decidedly not female, rather it belonged to the guy who'd claimed a spot at the table behind us.

"I mean, technically, no. I guess you could say it was a pretty cushy life. But," I paused, trying to find the right words, "it just works better for everyone that I'm here instead."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" I opened my mouth to reply, not really sure what I was going to say, but was cut off by someone across the room yelling. This was followed by several punches being thrown by both Serpents and Ghoulies. Everyone who wasn't officially involved with either side, stepped back to let them deal with it. Including myself. I'd stepped back, but apparently not far enough. One second, I was watching the fight with raised eyebrows, the next there's a stray Ghoulie elbow connecting with the side of my face. I hadn't seen it coming, so I didn't have time to brace myself. My head snapped to the side. My hand automatically going up to press against the now throbbing cheekbone. Luckily, he hadn't hit my nose. My eyes welled up with tears that sprang up on their own. The first thought that ran through my head was 'what just happened'. The second was me praising whatever had compelled me to use the waterproof mascara today.

* * *

I took the extra-long way home, winding all through the southside neighborhoods. Which probably wasn't a good idea, but I was hoping to avoid the reaction that I knew was coming. When it started getting dark, I decided I'd better just get it over with. My mom had stopped mid-sentence when she looked up as I walked in the front door. My step-dad's face set into a hard stare. They both demanded to know what had happened. After I had explained the whole thing, Doc picked up his phone and stepped outside. The night was routine after that. We had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and I retreated to my room while they watched TV. I was scrolling through several different forms of social media on my bed when there was a rapid knocking on the back door. With a sigh, I got off my bed and pulled the door open. Standing on the other side of the door were the two Serpents that had spoken to me in my pre-calc class plus the tall one I'd seen them with in the hallways at school.

"Aria, hey, can you get Doc?" Toni gave me a strained smile while stepping inside. I nodded, heading back towards the front of the house.

"Somebody's here." I called out. Doc got up, grabbing the large med kit we kept on top of the fridge. This time, instead of leaving, I returned to my bedroom. Toni looked like her normal self, just a little disheveled. The tall one had a cut on his forehead, and a bruise that matched my own blooming on his face. The guy from my pre-calc class, however, was clutching his arm, and there was a steady flow of blood coming from under the bandage wrapped around his arm. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed the ice pack I'd gotten out of the freezer a few minutes earlier for myself and handed it to the tall one, who's name I hadn't learned yet. He held it up to his face while staring at me.

"What's up, Doc?" The guy from class attempted to grin up at Doc, still holding onto his injured arm. Doc just rolled his eyes and sat down in front of him.

"Pony, clean him up, will you? This idiot needs stitches." Doc spoke up, while rummaging around in the med kit after peeling away the bandage on his arm. He handed me some anti-septic and a steri-gauze packet before turning back around. I swallowed harshly before looking back to the one person in the room I'd never interacted with before. He'd taken a seat on the edge of the futon across from my bed, the chair usually used for this being occupied by his friend. I ripped open the steri-gauze, poured a little anti-septic on it, and carefully pressed it onto the cut on his forehead. He let out a hiss.

"Sorry." The word was out of my mouth before I could catch it.

"'M fine." He stated, even though he was clearly not fine.

"So, how'd it go?" Doc spoke up as he continued to stitch the cut on the Serpents arm.

"We won." The guy sitting in front of me spoke up, grinning.

"And the other thing we discussed?"

"We've got it handled, Doc." Toni gave me a small smile. The action confused me, but I kept at the task of cleaning the cut in front of me.


	3. Chapter 2

"So, why's Doc call you Pony?" Toni questioned as she fell into step beside me on the way to lunch. I'd spent much of my morning getting different looks from the students around me. I wanted to pretend it was because of the bruise across the side of my face. But I knew it was more than that. The new girl was officially associated with the Serpents, and if they hadn't known it before they showed up to school today, they did now. Everywhere I'd gone today, I had a Serpent shadow. Most of them didn't talk to me. Just followed wordlessly behind me and gave a dirty look to anyone who dared to get within three feet of me.

"It's just a nickname from when I was little."

"Did you like, really like horses?" She grinned bumping her shoulder into mine. I rolled my eyes with a smile of my own.

"No, I- My full name is Saponaria. When I was little my mom would call me Pony after I-" I cut off that train of thought, "Anyway, Doc started calling me that when he and my mom got married."

"It's cute. And, it's officially your nickname." She steered us towards the Serpents' half of the lunch room. I actually hadn't ventured that far into the lunch room yesterday. Just stood in the doorway long enough to know I'd rather spend my lunch period alone.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"What happened last night?" The question had been on the tip of my tongue all day, even though I was pretty sure what had gone down.

"You're Doc's kid. And we made it known last night that if a Ghoulie messes with you, they're messing with us." I didn't say anything else as she pointed us towards a table with the two guys from last night.

"How's the face, Aria?" The one from pre-calc questioned, shoving a few chips into his mouth.

"It's fine." I tentatively took a seat across from him. Toni tossed her bag on the table before sitting next to me.

"Doesn't look fine."

"I've had worse." I admitted off-handedly while pulling an orange from my bag. When I looked up, they were all staring at me. "What?"

"You've had worse than that in your perfect little Northside life?" The tall one threw at me, disbelief all over his bruised face.

"Yeah." I answered him, shrugging one shoulder. I didn't bother to correct him about the perfect part. He scoffed.

"Lay off, Sweet Pea." Toni shot at him.

"Yeah, Sweet Pea, lay off." The other mimicked with a snicker.

"If you don't cut it out, I'm gonna punch you in your stitches." Toni glared. I only half listened to their conversation as I ate my fruit. Nobody spoke to me again until lunch was over. And even then, it was only Toni telling me she'd see me in pre-calc.

* * *

The first week of school went by quickly. I walked to school in the morning, spent all day being shadowed by Serpents, and then walked home. I was feeling a little less intimidated by all the Serpents after being surrounded by them constantly. Things had been a little tense between mom and Doc, so I spent all my free time at home in my room. I didn't want to accidentally say the wrong thing again like I had on Tuesday night. Mom had asked if I'd made any friends, and she didn't really appreciate my remark about it being hard to make friends when an entire gang of body guards were following me everywhere. She wasn't aware that Doc had asked them to watch out for me. That was what started their fight, and with the way the kitchen cabinets were still being slammed on Friday night, it was safe to say they hadn't talked it out yet.

Currently, I was sprawled across my bed, working on a history paper. I'd been working on it for almost an hour when my phone lit up next to me. Toni had taken it upon herself to enter her cell number into mine in class on Monday. She hadn't texted me until now.

 _From Toni: Hey, you doing anything right now?_

 _To Toni: Homework. What's up?_

 _From Toni: Wanna go to Greendale with me?_

 _To Toni: For what?_

 _From Toni: I need to buy hair dye. They don't sell my color here._

 _To Toni: Sure._

 _From Toni: Fangs and I'll be there in five, be ready!_

I wondered for a second where the other third of their trio was going to be. Before I could really start thinking about it, the front door slammed. I froze, listening to the rest of the house. I could barely make out the sound of the TV, which meant mom was watching TV in her bedroom. Doc must've left. Carefully, I crawled off my bed. My feet carried me to just outside their master bedroom. I needed to make sure it was okay that I was going out, but I also wasn't sure that she wouldn't be pissed that I was going to hang out with Toni and Fangs.

"You need something?" Mom called from the other side of the door, swinging it open. "Or are you just going to stand out there all night?"

"I-" I swallowed harshly, "Is it cool if I go to Greendale with some friends?"

"Some Serpent friends?" She immediately shot out.

"Is that not okay?"

"It's fine. Be back by midnight." Her answer was short, obviously it wasn't fine. But I still gave her a smile, turning back to rush to my room to put more acceptable clothing on. I'd changed into shorts and a ratty tank top when I'd gotten home, figuring I'd just be home by myself all night. My phone lit up with a call from Toni just as I was buttoning my jeans. Ignoring it, I grabbed my purse, making sure my keys and wallet were in it. Then I yelled bye to my mom and slammed the front door shut behind me. The slightly beat up pick-up truck at the end of the driveway had music blaring. A grin found its way onto my face as I approached it.

* * *

Forty minutes later found the three of us in one of Greendale's beauty supply stores. Toni was debating over which brand to pick, not remembering which one she liked more. Fangs was clearly nearing his wits end, having been in the store now for nearly twenty minutes. And I was eyeing the swatch labeled 'Dark Raspberry'. I'd always wanted to dye my bland medium brown hair darker, but my dad would've quite literally killed me if I had. Now, however, I lived with my mom. And she'd been dyeing her own hair for years. She couldn't possibly be pissed if I dyed my hair, could she? After being drawn back to it several times, I decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Hey, Toni?"

"Yeah?"

"How much dye do you think I need to dye all of my hair?" Her head snapped over to me.

"What?"

"I wanna dye my hair. How much do you think I need?" She got a crazy grin on her face before tossing the dye in her hand into the basket and turning towards me. I ended up with three tubes of hair dye, a giant bottle of developer, and everything else she'd deemed necessary for the process.

"Are you finally done?" Fangs groaned.

"Yes, you baby." Toni shot at him, rolling her eyes. Fangs complained for the five minutes it took us to check out. "Will you quit it? You could've stayed at the Wyrm with Pea. You chose to come with us."

"Only because you promised we could go to that diner down the street. I'm starving." At the mention of a diner, my stomach growled. Loudly. "You hear that? Pony wants food too." Fangs threw his arm over my shoulders, pulling me into his side with a grin. Maybe I was starting to fit in more than I thought I would.


	4. Chapter 3

The second and third week of school was much easier than the first. I'd been making nice with more people than just Toni and Fangs. Of course, they were all associated with the Serpents, but it was better than nothing. Currently, I had my history notes spread out around me at my kitchen table while Fangs and Joaquin, another Serpent in our pre-calc class, sat across from me attempting their pre-calc review homework.

"What'd you get on seventeen?"

"Fifteen."

"What? I got four." Fangs leaned over to read the other's notebook. "Who's right, Pony?" I looked up from reading about the colonization of the Americas. They were both staring at me.

"Neither of you."

"What'd _you_ get on seventeen?" The front door swung open as I dug out my pre-calc notebook. The heavy boots told me it was Doc without even looking up.

"Anybody home?" He called out.

"In here!" I answered, flipping open my homework. "I got twelve."

"What?" They both grabbed the notebook, pulling it over between them.

"Hey, kid." Doc pressed a kiss to the top of my head as he passed behind me, going into the kitchen. "Joaquin, Fangs." They barely acknowledged him, staring at my notebook. "How was your day?"

"Fine."

"What'd you have for lunch?"

"The same thing I eat every day for lunch." I shot at him, looking down at my history book.

"Which is?"

"An orange."

"Pony, we've talked about this." I didn't have to look at him to know he was giving me the disapproving look he'd perfected since I'd moved in. "You have to be eating more than that."

"I know, I know." I glanced towards where Joaquin and Fangs were copying my homework.

"Fine. We're talking about it later with your mom." That thought filled me with dread. "Don't forget about the meeting tonight, boys." Doc shoved himself off the counter he was leaning against. Then disappeared into his bedroom, ending all conversation.

"Shit, I gotta go. I told Toni I'd give her a ride." Fangs hastily shoved all of his things into his backpack, rushing out the front door. Joaquin looked at me for a second, opened his mouth like he was going to say something, and then shut it.

"What?"

"Nothing." He went back to his pre-calc homework.

"You wanna know what all that was with Doc."

"It's none of my business." I thought about telling him the truth. I mean, living here was supposed to be my fresh start. How clean of a start was it if I started lying to everyone that spoke to me? I opened my mouth before I could talk myself out of it.

"I didn't eat enough when I lived with my dad. I passed out twice because of it. Doc and my mom are worried that it's gonna happen again." My teeth were gnawing on my bottom lip, nervous how he was going to react to my confession. I hadn't actually told anyone that before. Sure, people knew. But everyone who knew, knew because they'd heard it from the doctors at the hospital. He just nodded, holding my gaze for a few long seconds. Then went back to his homework.

At lunch the next day, Joaquin handed me a granola bar without a word.

* * *

"So, I've been thinking." Mom and I were sitting on the couch in the living room. A terrible made-for-TV movie playing as we ate our pizza dinner.

"That's never a good sign." I laughed out, looking over at my mom. She sent me a playful glare. "Sorry, sorry. What have you been thinking about?"

"Your hair." I immediately drew my lower lip between my teeth. She hadn't said anything yet. And I'd assumed it was because she was mad about it. Like she was mad about my befriending the Serpents. "Your new friends." I set the piece of pizza in my hand down onto the paper plate in front of me. I knew we'd be talking about it eventually. "I'm not mad at you for making friends with the Serpents. It's not them I have a problem with. Hell, I'm married to one. I just know how mad it's going to make your dad. And I don't want anything to happen that's going to jeopardize you living here."

"Nothing's going to happen."

"You don't know that. Things happen sometimes, honey." She sighed, turning fully towards me. "We love having you here. Our family actually feels like a family with you here. But your dad could take that away at any second. He still has full custody of you. Legally. We're working on getting an official custody agreement, but it's taking longer than we thought."

"What are you saying? He could just snap his fingers and I'm back living there?" My pinky fingers started tingling just at the thought of living with him again. This couldn't be happening. "I'm not going back there. I'm not."

"Honey, you have to be realistic here. If-" I shot out of my seat.

"No!" My voice raising. "I'm not going back there!" Her face set into a hard stare.

"Well, you have to. You're having dinner over there tomorrow night. It's either that or you go back to living there." I clenched my jaw, stomping into my room. Slamming my door didn't relieve any of my anger. Neither did whipping one of my pillows at the now closed door. So, I put on the closest pair of shoes and stormed out the back door.

* * *

I hadn't thought this through. It was colder outside than it was in the house. The leggings and thin shirt I'd been comfortably wearing before my mom's news were doing nothing for me, now that I was sitting on the only functioning swing in the Sunnyside park. The dilapidated park was on the opposite side of the trailer park that our house backed up to. I doubted my mom would come looking for me here. If she bothered to come looking for me. I had no idea how long I had been sitting here. But a chill had settled into me. And I was starting to shiver.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" The voice startled me. Looking up from my feet, I spotted the one high school age Serpent that was taller than the rest. "Are you aware that Doc's ready to call the national guard to come find you?"

"What?"

"Your mom called him an hour ago, freaking. He's got everyone looking all over for you."

"Well, here I am." The loud annoyed sigh he let out made me roll my eyes. "Sorry for the inconvenience." My words had a bite to them. I was still angry about earlier. With a sigh of my own, I hoisted myself out of the swing. His loud steps echoed behind me as I started making my way back home. I tried to ignore it. But by the time we made it to the edge of the park, I couldn't take it any longer. "What are you doing?" I whirled around, staring angrily at him.

"I'm making sure you get home, princess. Last thing I need is for you to get jumped by a bunch of Ghoulies. Doc would kill me."

"I'm not gonna get jumped."

"You don't know that."

"Why the hell would they jump me? I'm nobody."

"You're Doc's kid. Which makes you somebody." I rolled my eyes at his retort. This again. "That's how it works on the Southside. If you're important to a Serpent, you're a target."

"Yeah, okay." I rolled my eyes for the second time. He continued to stalk after me as I wound through the streets towards home. Neither of us said anything else to the other. We just walked. Me shivering with an angry look on my face, him fifteen feet behind me the entire way. My eyes widened slightly when I rounded the corner of my street. The entire house was lit up. Mom was sitting on the front porch, wrapped in a blanket, staring out onto the street.

"You good from here, princess?"

"Yeah." Then after a second, I threw a 'thanks' at him before continuing to walk towards the house. Mom immediately called Doc to call off the search party. She didn't spare me a glance as I walked past her into the house. I was still mad at her, but now I was feeling guilty for causing so much panic.

"Don't you ever, _ever,_ do that again? Do you hear me?" I kept my eyes on the toes of my boots, not looking up at her as she scolded me. "Do you have any idea what could've happened to you? I can't- Just go to your room. Doc'll be home in a few minutes. We'll talk about it then." I didn't pick my head up until I was in my room. The door closing silently behind me. My bed creaked slightly as I sat on the edge of it. My anxiety was screaming at me; telling me how stupid I was for just taking off like that, how now they were going to change their minds and send me back to live with my dad. Before I knew it, I was curled into a ball around my pillow sobbing.


	5. Chapter 4

"Why would you even say that?"

"I'm just thinking out loud here. Maybe it's the best choice."

"Do you not remember what she was like when she was living there? She was a ghost, a shell of a girl."

"Of course, I remember!"

"Then how could you even suggest that she goes back there? She goes back there, and all the progress she's made goes out the window."

"I don't know what else to do!"

"We're just going to have to talk to Penny."

"No. You told me-"

"I know what I said. But we're out of options. We need to get the custody agreement amended, and she'll get it done the fastest."

That was the argument I woke up to. I was still in my leggings and long sleeve shirt from the night before. My boots were still on my feet. My head felt like it had tripled in weight overnight, and there was a dull throbbing inside my skull. Both signs that I'd cried myself to sleep last night. It wasn't a nightly occurrence now, but it had been before I'd moved. A splash of icy water and a cup of coffee would erase most of the evidence. But both of those things required me to go through the kitchen. And mom and Doc were currently arguing about what they were going to do with me in there. So, I stayed put, pulling my boots off and curling back up in my bed. I was laying there for another twenty minutes before there was a soft knock on my bedroom door.

"Yeah." I croaked out.

"Hey, kid, you awake enough to talk?" Doc gently pushed the door open. I sat up, staying wrapped in my blanket. His six-foot-seven frame took a seat across from me. Both of us were silent for a seconds before he spoke up.

"First off, I know you don't want to go back to your dad's, but if you want to continue to live here, you have to agree to going to dinner once a month there. It's three hours maximum, every second Saturday of the month. Just until we get the custody agreement worked out, which will hopefully be sooner rather than later."

"Okay."

"Second, do you understand how dumb that was last night? Just taking off like that?"

"I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"I know you were mad. I understand that. But walking around the Southside at night is not like walking around the Northside. There are a lot of people who'd hurt you to get to me. Which brings me to our final topic." He glanced towards the still open door before reaching into the pocket of his jeans. There was a closed pocket knife with a white handle in his hand, stretched towards me. I hesitantly reached out to take it.

"What is this?"

"Your knife. I want you to carry that with you everywhere."

"I-"

"Plenty of your new friends can give some pointers on how to handle it." He let out a sigh. "I need you to really listen to what I'm saying. If you are ever, _ever_ , in a situation where you need to use this. Don't hesitate. Don't think about the consequences. Just take care of yourself. Get yourself out of whatever situation you're in, and we'll deal with the fallout after."

"Got it." I stated, swallowing harshly. My eyes didn't leave the shiny weapon in my hand.

"Pony. I hope that you never have to use it, but if you do, don't forget to pull it out. It'll cause more damage. If they put you in a position where your only option is to stab them, they deserve it." I must've looked as freaked out as I felt. Because when our eyes met, his hard gaze softened. "I'm not trying to scare you. I just need you to be prepared, okay?"

"Okay." Doc gave me a smile, getting up from his seat.

"Oh, one more thing, let's not tell your mom about this. She would _not_ be happy." I nodded, tucking the hand that held the folded knife back into my blanket. "I love you, kid."

"I love you too." He disappeared back into the kitchen. Leaving me to contemplate the conversation I'd overheard and the one I'd just had. Before I could start overthinking everything, I felt my phone vibrate somewhere in my bed. It took me a minute to find it. My eyes widened when I did. I had almost a hundred notifications for unread texts and missed calls. All of them were from last night, wondering where I was, except for the one I'd just gotten from Toni.

 _From Toni: Are you still alive?_

 _To Toni: Yeah, barely_

 _From Toni: You free to hang? Or are you on house arrest?_

 _To Toni: Not really sure, Doc gave me a lecture but I haven't left my room_

 _From Toni: Well find out. These idiots are driving me insane_

I unwrapped myself from the cocoon of blankets I'd created and headed into the kitchen. Mom and Doc were sitting at the kitchen table, looking over some papers. "Is it cool if I hang out with Toni today?"

"As long as you're ready to leave for dinner at six, I don't care." Mom answered, not looking up from what she was reading. I nodded, even though she couldn't see it.

"Just remember what we talked about." Doc gave me a pointed look.

"Got it." I nodded again, this time turning to head back into my room. I picked up my phone from my pillow, pressing my thumb onto Toni's number. She answered on the second ring.

"You good?"

"I am. So, where to?"

* * *

The tall two-story house sitting in front of me was the complete opposite of the small rambler I'd made my home in the past few months. The white siding somehow managed to blend in with the surrounding houses and also stand out. If you were driving down the street, it was the house that your eyes were drawn to as you passed by. It drew your eye even more than the brick church it sat next to. Right now, I was anything but drawn to it. I wanted to turn on my heels and run. Everything in me was telling me to not go inside. But I didn't have a choice. I wanted to keep living with my mom, so I had to suffer through this dinner. I let out a slow breath. _I can do this. I can do this._ I kept repeating those words in my head as I started up the front walk. I had one foot on the steps when the front door flung open.

"Took you long enough." My step-brother called, leaving the door open as he walked back into the house.

"I can do this." I whispered out loud. Then I crossed through the doorway. It was like stepping four months into the past. Nothing had changed. Everything that I could see from the front foyer was still exactly the same as it had been when I'd last walked out the front door.

"Put on some weight, I see." My step-sister, Jenna, shot as she slipped past me into the dining room. I swallowed harshly, not acknowledging her. After dropping my purse onto the small bench inside the door, I made my way into the kitchen. My dad, my step-mom, and two of my siblings were all working on separate parts of dinner.

"Hi, everyone. Anything I can help with?" All of theirs eyes shot up at the same time. Tia and Cece both gave me smiles, not stopping what they were working on. Anna, my step-mom, raised her eyebrows so high they nearly disappeared into her hairline.

"What on earth did you do to your hair?" My dad nearly barked out.

"I dyed it."

"I can see that." He cleared his throat before motioning towards a baking sheet sitting on the counter. "Plate the vegetables." I nodded, quietly stepping towards the sink to wash my hands before touching anything. No one else said anything until we were all seated at the dining room table and grace had been said. Dad was at one end of the table, Anna at the other. One side of the long table held my three step-siblings and my older brother, the other had myself and my three sisters.

"So, Aria, how's school going?" I chewed and swallowed the bite of pork chop in my mouth so fast I nearly choked.

"It's going well. The teachers aren't as engaging as they are at Riverdale, but I'm still learning."

"I heard there was a raid on the school the other day." Kenny, the oldest of my two step-brothers, spoke up. "Mantle said he heard there were like twelve people that got arrested."

"I mean, someone got arrested in the parking lot last week. I wouldn't consider that a raid." I shot back, trying to keep my voice level. The look on their faces told me what their goal for the night was. They wanted to wind me up so much that I lost it again.

"Well, that would never happen at Riverdale High." My dad gave me a pointed look.

"What's new with you guys?" I attempted to change the subject, taking a large drink from the glass of water sitting in front of me.

"I'm officially second in command of the River Vixens." Jenna grinned proudly.

"I made first chair in the band." Tia added from my left. "Although we haven't really been doing all that great since Miss Grundy left."

"Our season hasn't started yet, but Coach Olsen says I'm a shoe-in for captain." Everyone else kept listing off their accomplishments, making me shrink smaller and smaller into my chair. The tight feeling in my stomach I'd fought past came back tenfold. My fork idly pushed the food on my plate around, not nearly enough of it making its way to my mouth. The conversation stayed at a steady pace.

"Aria, dessert?" My eyes snapped towards Anna. She was smiling tightly, holding the serving knife over a pie.

"No, thank you. I'm so full."

"Bet she doesn't say that often." My older brother, EJ, mumbled loud enough for the entire table to hear. Everyone under the age of nineteen snickered. My cheeks burned as no one said anything else. I sat silently as they all ate their dessert.

"So, Aria, we haven't seen you at a service recently." I'd been waiting for this line of questioning since I'd climbed out of the cab of truck earlier.

"We started going in Greendale. Just a little less awkward for everyone." The lie slipped out of me easily. I hadn't stepped foot in church since I'd moved. There was a single church in Riverdale, and my dad was the head pastor there. I didn't want any part of that. And neither did Doc or mom.

"Saint Joseph's on third?"

"I don't know what street it's on."

"Jim's a good guy. I bet you're learning a lot from him."

"Absolutely." The clock on the wall starting chiming, eight rings in a row. "Is it eight already? Doc said he'd been here around eight." I stood up so fast I nearly tipped the chair over behind me. It was a few steps to the front window. Doc's pickup was just pulling to a stop at the curb out front.

"Why don't you kids go help clean up the kitchen? I'll be there in a minute." All seven of them gathered the dishes from the table, filing into the kitchen.

"Well, I better get going. I don't want to make Doc wait." I tried to slip past my dad into the foyer, but he caught my forearm in his hand.

"The pastor at Saint Joseph's is Hank Adams." His words were almost a snarl. The grip he had on my arm tightened. I winced. I wanted to pull my arm away from him, but I knew that would only make it worse. His angry eyes stayed locked on mine for a few long seconds. A loud bang from the kitchen broke off his stare. His grip loosened enough for me to slip away. I snatched my purse up before hurriedly leaving through the front door. Doc didn't try to make conversation on the way home. And for the second night in a row, I cried myself to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

"How was your dinner on Saturday?" Toni questioned, leaning against the locker next to mine Monday afternoon. The last class of the day had just ended, and I was collecting the homework that I needed to get done tonight. Toni already had her backpack slung over her shoulder. "I can't believe you haven't told me about it yet."

"It was fine." I tugged the sleeve of my shirt down farther, even though it was already covering my entire wrist; keeping the evidence of how not fine it actually had been hidden.

"Fine? All I've heard from you since you got here is that you never want to go back. _Ever_. And your dinner in hell was fine?"

"Okay, it sucked. But I'm alive." I finally met her eyes. She seemed to pick up the hint that I didn't want to talk about it. After slamming my locker shut, we started down the hallway, towards the side door that led to the picnic table the Serpents frequented.

"What're you doing tonight? Because I need help with my English paper. I'm having trouble coming up with more than one counterpoint. And I was hoping you could help."

"Sure. What do you have so far?" Toni opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by Fangs shouting her name repeatedly as soon as we stepped outside.

"What?" She let out, exasperated.

"You wanna go to that diner in Greendale again? I'm starving. And I would kill for one of their grilled cheeses." The request was sent her way along with a brilliant smile.

"You can't take yourself?"

"I mean, I can. But I don't really wanna go alone." He put on a little bit of a pout.

"Did you do your English paper yet?" The question slipped out of my mouth, bringing their attention from Toni to me.

"Not yet, _mom._ I was going to do it tonight." Fangs rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Well, I was gonna help Toni with her paper anyway. So just bring your stuff with to the diner and we'll work on them there." I shrugged, pulling my backpack straps higher on my shoulders.

"Great, I'm in." He clapped his hands together. "Sweets, sorry, man, but I don't need your help anymore. Pony's gonna do my English paper for me."

"No, I'm not. I said I would help, not do it for you." I let out a sigh, knowing exactly where this was heading. I'd helped Fangs' with his last English paper. Which meant he talked through his thoughts on 'Of Mice and Men' while I typed them into a coherent paper. "You talk. I'll type. As long as you buy my fries."

"Deal."

"We're gonna have to swing by my house and grab my laptop."

"Does this mean you'll type my paper if I buy you food, Northside?" Sweet Pea asked from where he was sitting at the picnic table.

"Double scoop of chocolate mint in a waffle cone from Jimmy's, and I'm all yours." I grinned down at the tall Serpent. "Right after I help Toni and Fangs."

* * *

"Did you even read past the third chapter? Because, spoiler alert, that dude dies." My eyes glanced over towards Fangs sitting next to me while my fingers continued to tap away at the keys on my laptop. I'd already helped Toni finish, and was now attempting to assemble Fangs' thoughts on the story into a coherent paper.

"I know that. He dies at the end of chapter six. Where I stopped reading." I rolled my eyes, going back to the screen in front of me. "Fry?" I opened my mouth, still not pausing my typing. Fangs deposited the ketchup dipped French fry in my open mouth. We'd been working this way for about twenty minutes; me typing up Fangs' paper while he occasionally fed me a fry, so I didn't have to keep wiping grease off my fingers. Toni and Sweet Pea were sitting on the opposite side of the booth. The pink haired teenager was scrolling through her phone. Her tall counterpart was scribbling furiously into the notebook in front of him.

"Alright, read it through. That's what we've got." I slid the laptop towards him, waiting patiently while he read through the paper on the screen.

"You make me sound like a genius, Pony." Fangs grinned. I rolled my eyes, pulling the laptop back towards myself. I double checked that it had saved. Then opened up a new blank word document.

"Alright, Sweet Pea, what do you got?" He didn't respond to my question, still scribbling away in his notebook.

"Sweets, c'mon, I've got a shift at the Wyrm in an hour. I'm sure it's fine." Toni reached for the notebook, barely missing it when Sweet Pea blocked her.

"Just a second." While he was distracted by Toni, Fangs reached across the table and swiped the notebook. "Way to be a dick, Fangs."

"Remember last time we made her late for work? She nearly killed us both. I'd rather not live through that again."

"Relax, guys. I type fast. Let him finish." He gave me a small nod as I slid the notebook back to him. Sweet Pea went back to writing out his paper while the rest of us waited. Toni and Fangs were talking about something someone posted on Instagram. I had no idea who they were talking about, so I just kept eating my fries. Less than five minutes later, Sweet Pea declared he was done. It took me fifteen minutes to type up the three-page paper. Mostly because I couldn't decipher some of his chicken scratch and had to keep asking what he was trying to say. Fangs found this hilarious every single time. I let Sweet Pea read over his paper like I had with the other two before saving everything and shutting the laptop down.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road before Toni murders us all."

* * *

"How was studying?" I scrunched my nose at the way my mom said the last word. She'd been uncharacteristically quiet since she'd gotten home from work. There had barely been a word spoken between us while she started on dinner and I'd worked on my math homework. I'd finished the twenty-five problems a few minutes ago. Now, I was helping her finish up dinner.

"Fine?" With a quick glance her way, I continued stirring the pot of pasta sauce on the stove. She had a strange look on her face. "Why?"

"No reason. Just wondering how your schooling is going."

"It's going fine." I answered, still skeptical about where she was going with this. She leaned against the counter next to the stove while I opened the cupboard to grab plates for dinner. My mom continued to stare me down while I set the table. "What?" I finally asked when I'd finished setting the table and she was still watching at me.

"I'm home!" Doc called as he flung the front door open. "Sorry I'm late. I had to finish up a few things at the garage." He stopped briefly to give mom a quick kiss before scrubbing his hands at the sink. "What'd I interrupt?"

"Nothing. Just waiting on you for dinner." The three of us sat down together. Mom and Doc shared their days with each other while I slowly ate the spaghetti on my plate. Five minutes into the meal, mom broke the peace.

"So, I'm just curious, when were you planning on telling your mother you have a boyfriend?"

"What?" I managed to croak out after nearly choking on my food. Doc looked just as shocked as I was.

"I was talking to a friend earlier and she was telling me how cute you and your boyfriend were while working on your homework together at the diner."

"I thought you were with your friends earlier." Doc cut in before I could even open my mouth to reply.

"I- I swear I was helping Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea with their English papers. I don't know what your friend is talking about."

"Helen, my friend, she works at the diner. Anyway, she wanted to call and let me know that she was glad you're getting out more. She knows I've been worried about you barely leaving your room this summer."

"You talk about me with your friends?"

"Of course I do. We talk about everything."

"Awesome."

"Don't try and get yourself out of this one." Doc brought us back to the original topic. "Who is this supposed boyfriend?"

"I couldn't tell you. Because I have no idea."

"Well if you were with them, then I'd guess Fangs. Helen mentioned something about him smiling a lot. And I don't know if I've ever actually seen Sweet Pea smile."

"Fangs? You're dating Fangs?" Doc's voice got slightly louder with each word he spoke.

"Oh my god. No. I am not. I swear." My voice also got louder. "I am not dating Fangs. I am not dating _anyone_." They both stared at me for what felt like forever. My eyes bounced between them.

"Okay." Mom said, like she didn't really believe me but was going to drop it anyway. The rest of our dinner was eaten in awkward silence.

* * *

Later that night, when I was nearly asleep, there was a knock on the back door of the house. I let out a large sigh before hauling myself out of bed. I pulled an over-sized hoodie over my tank top before opening the door. Toni was on the other side, with a bag hanging from her shoulder. "Hey, Pony."

"Hey, everything okay? Do you need me to go get Doc?" I glanced around her to see if the usual suspects were with her.

"No, no, everything's fine." She sighed before meeting my eyes. "Do you think I could crash here for a couple nights?"

"I'll have to make sure it's okay with my mom and Doc. But I don't think they'll care. C'mon." I opened the door all the way, letting her into my room. She set her bag on the end of the futon. "I'll be right back." Mom and Doc were thankfully still sitting on the couch with the news on the TV.

"What's up, kid?" Doc barely looked away from the TV.

"Do you mind if Toni crashes here for a couple nights?"

"Sure. Is everything okay?" Mom sat up a little straighter, concern on her face.

"Yeah, she just needs a place to stay for a couple nights."

"Okay. Don't stay up too late. You've got school tomorrow." After saying good night to them again, I headed back towards my bedroom, stopping at the linen closet outside the bathroom to grab some clean sheets and pillowcases for Toni. She was sitting at the ancient oversized desk that shared a wall with my bed.

"So, these don't match at all, but they're clean. I couldn't tell you when that sheet was last washed." A few minutes later, the futon was clad in the clean light green patterned sheet and laid out in the flat position. It left a little more than a foot between the edge of my bed and the edge of the futon. Toni had been quiet up to this point, but when she saw the pillow cases I'd grabbed, she started laughing. I couldn't blame her. My grandma had made them a few years ago, when she was still in denial about losing her eyesight. No one really knew what she thought the pattern was, but everyone had come to the consensus that she hadn't known it was a bunch of bright yellow bananas.

"Oh my god. Where did you even get these?" She got out between fits of laughter.

"My grandma made them." I sat down on the edge of my bed. "You need anything else?"

"I think I'm good. Thanks."

"No problem." I curled back up in my blanket, staring at the ceiling. I stayed quiet until I couldn't hear her moving around anymore. "Toni?" My voice was quiet, practically a whisper.

"Yeah?" Her voice was just as quiet in a reply.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm good." She paused for a really long time. So long that I thought she might've fallen asleep. "Thanks."

* * *

 _A/N: I am so sorry this took so long! I had the worst case of writer's block. For months. I tried and tried to get this chapter out the way I wanted to, but it just wasn't coming together. Still not super happy with this, but I can't figure out a way to not make this so choppy. I decided I just needed to cut the cord and move along._


	7. Chapter 6

"Northside." I quickly looked up from the extremely boring game on my phone. Only one person here still called me that. And he usually didn't start conversations with me.

"Yeah?" Sweet Pea was standing next to the desk I was seated at. His hands jammed into the pockets of his ever present leather Serpents jacket.

"You busy?"

"Uh," I glanced around the crowded classroom, not quite sure how to answer his question. Technically, no, I wasn't busy. Our teacher had gone to the bathroom forty minutes ago right after class had started and hadn't come back. A few students had taken the opportunity to ditch after the five-minute mark. A few more after that. But most of the class was still present. In fact, it surprised me that Sweet Pea was still here.

"He's not coming back. He left the parking lot ten minutes ago."

"Okay, then, no, I guess?"

"Great, c'mon." While I was curious about what the hell Sweet Pea could possibly need me for right now, I wasn't all that concerned. The pair of us weren't best friends. But I was best friends with his best friends, so that at least put us in the acquaintances category. Plus, he'd have to deal with Doc if something happened to me. And while _I_ knew Doc was a giant teddy bear, he was still a six-foot-seven tattooed biker. He was someone whose way you stayed out of if you could. Sweet Pea led me out into the side parking lot and to the truck Fangs' drove. I didn't question it when he pulled the keys out of his jacket pocket. He and Fangs were best friends. The drive was short, less than five minutes from Southside High School. And I somehow didn't realize where we were going until we were in the small parking lot.

"I wasn't actually serious about you owing me." I stated, following behind him.

"But you were."

"Maybe a little bit, but really." He just gave me a look before shoving me through the front door of Jimmy's Ice Cream Parlor. It wasn't as popular as Pop's was, but Jimmy's had some of the best ice cream I'd ever eaten. The place only had a few customers milling around. Not a lot of people were interested in ice cream with the cold season approaching quickly.

"Welcome to Jimmy's!" The blonde behind the counter smiled at us. "Do you know what you want, or do you need to do a little taste testing?" I glanced up at Sweet Pea, who was staring down at me. When I didn't say anything right away, he rolled his eyes before repeating the order I'd said a few days ago. The blonde just continued to smile while scooping the ice cream out of the bin and into one of their homemade waffle cones. I waited until we were back outside to talk again.

"You really didn't have to-"

"Just shut up and eat." It didn't take me long to listen to him. I happily ate the waffle cone while he started the drive back towards the school. It was silent up until the second to last stop sign before the turn into the school parking lot. "It's gonna drip on your sleeve." A quick glance down told me he wasn't wrong. The partially melted ice cream was about to drip out of the bottom of the cone.

"Thanks." Without a second thought, I reached up and tugged the long sleeve up my arm. I realized my mistake a second too late, shoving my sleeve back over my wrist. But Sweet Pea had already seen the bruise. It was fading, turning a nasty yellow-green color around the edges. But it was still very clearly a hand print. Instead of the semi-comfortable quiet we'd been riding in, the cab of the truck was now unbearably quiet. "Any way we can pretend you didn't see that?" He didn't answer me as he pulled the truck into the same space it had been in earlier.

"Where'd it come from?" He'd said 'where' but we both knew he was asking 'who'.

"No one."

"Does Doc know about it?" He cut the engine but didn't make to get out of the truck.

"No. And I don't want him to. It'll go the same way it did last time. He's gonna get himself into trouble and-" I realized I'd gone too far and exposed more than I should have after the words were out of my mouth. My jaw snapped shut quickly.

"This has happened before?" He turned towards me, anger on his face.

"Seriously, just drop it."

"I'll drop it when you tell Doc."

"I can't tell Doc."

"Then I will." Sweet Pea reached for the door handle. My own hand shot out, grabbing onto his arm to stop him from going any farther.

"You can't. Seriously, he can't know about this. Doc'll go after him and get thrown in jail, and I'll end up back there with all of them." I was nearly pleading with him now, but I couldn't let Doc find out. He'd nearly ended up in jail the last time this had happened. "Please, Pea, please."

"Answer one question."

"Okay."

"Who did it?"

"If I tell you, will you drop it? You won't say anything? To anyone?"

"Sure." I took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds.

"My dad. It's one of the reasons I live with Doc and my mom now." He didn't say anything else. Just stared at me for a few long seconds before opening the driver's door and getting out of Fangs' truck. I let out a few long breaths, calming my heart rate before climbing out of the truck myself. Toni and Fangs were crossing the parking lot towards us.

"Sweets, man, what the hell?" Fangs' answer was Sweet Pea throwing the keys at him. "Where did you go?"

"He owed me ice cream." I made myself plaster a grin on my face, holding up the half-eaten waffle cone.

* * *

"So, ice cream date with Sweets, huh?" Toni grinned over at me from the futon. She was working on her math homework while I finished up my history reading. She'd clearly been waiting for me to reach the end of the chapter, because as soon as I'd finished writing down my last note, she'd started talking.

"It was not a date. He owed me ice cream for typing his paper." The grin didn't leave her face. "Seriously, he didn't even tell me where we were going. He just told me to get in the truck."

"So, you just got in the truck with him? I didn't know you were that good of friends with him."

"I'm not really. But what was he gonna do? He knows he'd have to answer to Doc if something happened to me. Plus, I do have a knife if things really, really took a turn for the worse." I didn't mention that I didn't carry the knife with me. The thing didn't do me much good if I didn't have it. Her face fell into a more serious expression.

"You own a knife? What? Where'd you get it?"

"Where else? Doc. He gave it to me after I ran off into the night last week. I'm supposed to ask you guys for some pointers, but clearly I remembered to do that."

"You know who's really good with a knife?" The returning grin answered her question for me. "Sweets. I bet he'd love to teach you how to use it."

"I know I'm probably simplifying it more than I should, but how hard can it really be? I mean, flip it open, stab someone, take it out, and run away."

"Yeah, but you've still gotta learn how to hold it right. So you don't hurt yourself."

"Okay, fine."

"And you should probably start carrying it with you. Things with the Ghoulies are starting to get bad." She sat up, closing her math book. "Can I see it?" I nodded, climbing off my bed. I'd stashed it in my sock drawer. It was the only place I could think of that my mom didn't rifle through. She hated wearing socks. She was the kind of person to wear flip flops until there was snow on the ground. So there was no logical reason for her be looking for something there. "Holy shit. That is pretty." Toni gingerly took the weapon from my hand.

"I know, right?"

"Oh my god, it's pretty. I know I said that already, but wow." She marveled over it for a few more seconds. "You should definitely start carrying this with you."

"Where am I gonna carry it? I go to school and come home. If I'm going anywhere, I'm with you." I took the folded knife back and tucked it into its space in my sock drawer. "I can't take it to school. In case you forgot, we have to walk through metal detectors to get more than five feet into the building."

"Use the door by the cafeteria, that metal detector is broken. You can get anything into the school from there." She picked up her pencil and flipped her textbook open again. "Seriously, that's the one we all go through."

"That's why you guys all go through there?"

"Yeah." She shrugged.

* * *

 _From Momma: Early dinner tonight. We have something we need to talk to you about._

That text alone was enough to set me on high alert. Had I done something worth getting in trouble for that I'd forgotten about? I couldn't remember anything even remotely bad that I'd done recently. The entire school day was spent in a perpetual state of slight panic while I tried to figure out what I'd done.

"Are you even listening to me?" I snapped out of the daze I'd been in at Toni's question.

"Sorry. I've been kind of spacey today."

"I noticed. Anyway," she sent me a look, "I was thanking you for letting me stay over the past couple nights. My uncle calmed down though, so I'm headed back there."

"You're welcome. My futon is available any time you need it." I gave her a smile. It had been nice having Toni around the house. The house felt fuller. Doc had been working a lot lately. So had mom. They were always home for dinner, but with how much they'd been working, they were exhausted when they got home. They had enough energy to eat dinner and get to bed. So, the house was feeling a little lonely lately. Toni being over had relieved that for a while.

"Long time, no see, stranger." My pink haired friend grinned at the Serpent taking a seat across from us. Joaquin rolled his eyes. "How's the boyfriend?"

"Good."

"Kevin, right? The sheriff's kid?"

"Yeah." I raised my eyebrows slightly, wondering how that had happened and I'd missed it. "What's up with you guys?" The grin on Toni's face grew even bigger.

"Pony went on a non-date, date with Sweets yesterday."

"I did not!" I immediately interjected, louder than I needed to. Joaquin's eyes widened in surprise, whether it was about Toni's statement or my shouting in return, I didn't know. But he was definitely surprised.

"So you're the church girl that was out with a Serpent. Northside's been talking about you." It was my turn for my eyes to widen. Who'd even been at Jimmy's to see us?

"What?"

"Yeah. Kevin's at the center of the rumor mill up there. He asked me if I knew anything about it." He shrugged like it was nothing. My heart rate picked up slightly as the thoughts started racing through my mind. What if my siblings found out? What if my dad found out? What if my stupid siblings were the ones to tell my dad? They'd definitely blow things way out of proportion. "You okay over there?"

"Fine. I just- Did they know it was me?" He hesitated in answering my question. "You heard about _it_ , didn't you?"

"It? What are you talking about?" I'd momentarily forgotten that Toni was still sitting at the table next to me. Her eyes flashed between Joaquin and I. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." I collected what little garbage I had in front of me, getting up from the table. The text from my mom had already sent my anxiety spiraling this morning, and now with this, I was on the verge of a panic attack. _You're fine. You're fine._ I kept repeating over and over in my head until I'd made it to the closest bathroom. The tiled room was thankfully empty. There was a slight shake to my hands as I brought them up to grip onto the edge of the sink. By the time I'd calmed myself down, lunch was over and it was time to head to fourth period.


	8. Chapter 7

"Hey, honey, how was your day?" I brushed past my mom in the kitchen, going straight to my room. "That good, huh?" I didn't bother shutting the door before pulling my long sleeve tee off and yanking my favorite sweatshirt down over my head. When I turned around to find my favorite pair of leggings, she showed up in the doorway. "What's going on?"

"Nothing. Just tired. It was a long day."

"Alright, well, early dinner tonight. Doc and I have plans." I nodded. She stared at me for a few seconds longer. "How've you been?"

"Fine." My answer wasn't a total lie. Up until finding out Joaquin knew about the incident in May, I'd been doing fine.

"Your anxiety? How's that been lately?"

"Manageable." That answer was a complete lie.

"You'll tell me if it's too much to handle, right? I'm your mother. I'm here to help you."

"I know, mom. I will." She pushed herself off the door jamb. Her arms opened for a hug, giving me a look. A small smile fell on my face as I stepped into her. To the outside world, I was an excellent liar. My mom could see through me every time. Doc could too. After a long hug and an extra squeeze, she let me go.

"Alright, finish changing. I'm gonna start on dinner." I let out a slow breath before searching for the light grey leggings I'd been intent on finding a minute ago. My phone lit up with a video call before I could find them. I answered with a sigh, knowing what my new best friend was going to ask about.

"Hey, you okay? You disappeared after the last bell. We haven't-"

"I'm good. I'm at home already."

"What?" A voice from her end questioned. The picture on my phone bounced around quickly, and then Fangs' face was taking up the screen. "I thought you said you were gonna finally come to the Wyrm tonight?"

"I totally forgot about that." I admitted, standing up from where I'd taken a seat on my bed. "Hold on." Mom was in the kitchen, reading over a recipe and looking entirely confused. "Hey, mom, can I go out tonight? I forgot to ask about it earlier."

"Yeah. Be home by ten thirty. It's a school night." Fangs let out a cheer from the phone, obviously having heard the conversation. "Who's that?" The grin that spread across her face told me she knew exactly who it was.

"Say hi to Fangs and Toni." I raised the phone higher and flipped the camera around so they could see her. "Say hi to my mom."

"Hi, Molly!" They both called happily.

"Hi, kids. You heard me, right? Ten thirty, no later. Toni, you staying again tonight?"

"Got it!" Fangs had a grin on his face.

"Not tonight. Thank you for letting me stay, though." Toni answered.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Just know you're always welcome here." I flipped the camera back around and headed back to my room. If I was going back out after dinner, there was no reason to change out of the jeans I'd worn to school. So, I flopped back down onto my bed.

"Alright, you know where the Wyrm is, right? Do you need one of us to come pick you up?"

"I'll be good. We've got dinner, then I'll be there."

* * *

"How was school today?" Doc asked, stabbing at a piece of the chicken on his plate.

"Fine. And, no, before you ask, I don't have any homework."

"Just fine? Did you learn anything new?"

"Not really. It was a slow day." I didn't have to look at either of them to know they were sharing a look across the table. "So, what did you guys wanna talk to me about?"

"We meet with your dad's lawyer tonight. About the custody agreement." Mom twirled her fork in her fingers nervously. Her eyes darting between Doc and me. "It- He-" She paused, gathering herself.

"We're expecting him to want to change a few details before officially agreeing." Doc put in. They both looked nervous now. "He's been pushing for weekly dinners."

"No." I snapped, pushing my chair away from the table.

"We're gonna fight against it. But, we're most likely gonna have to meet in the middle. Dinner every other Saturday." My chest was heaving with the anger I was attempting to hold in. For a split second, I thought about showing them what had happened last time I went there for dinner. But I knew how Doc would react. And if he went after my dad, he'd end up in jail and I'd end up living back there permanently. That wasn't an ideal situation for any of us. So, I forced myself to take a few deep breaths.

"I know how you feel about that. But if three hours every two weeks is the only thing he wants, then we're gonna have to take it." I took another deep breath as they shared yet another look. "We can't keep going back and forth through the lawyers."

"Can I be excused?" I finally asked after a few tense seconds. Mom sighed, nodding. I cleared my plate in no time and was slamming the door to my room shortly after. Slamming the door did the same amount of good for me as last time. Which was nothing. I knew that the lawyer bills were starting to pile up; they'd both been working themselves to the bone. But for them to admit it to me, it must've been getting really bad. With another forced slow breath, I dropped down onto the edge of my bed. Then I was laying back staring at the ceiling imagining all the terrible ways biweekly dinner was going to go. My brain was halfway through another disastrous dessert scenario when I forced myself to sit up. I was not going to dwell on things that hadn't even happened. I was not going to sit here overthinking everything when I was supposed to be hanging out with my friends.

* * *

"So, this is the Wyrm." I mumbled to myself. My eyes bounced around the dimly lit space, not resting on any one thing for very long. There was a lot happening in the small space. Toni had grinned and waved at me from behind the bar when I'd gotten here. But so far I'd only been standing near one of the pool tables while Fangs and Sweet Pea played. I hadn't ventured any farther. A few other kids from school were around, but I didn't talk to them enough for me to feel comfortable just walking up to them. So, here I stood, watching Fangs get his ass kicked by his best friend. Their game ended abruptly when the cue ball grazed the eight ball just enough to make it fall into the side pocket. Fangs held the pool stick out to me, telling Sweet Pea he'd win eventually. I hesitated before reaching out to grab it.

"You know what you're doing?"

"For the most part." Before I could take possession of the pool stick, I found myself falling forward after something slammed into my back. I caught myself on the pool table, whirling around with a furious look in my face. A blond I didn't recognize was fixing his hair, not even bothering to apologize, even after we made brief eye contact. "Watch it." I snapped at him. He seemed to take offense to my attitude. Because he straightened up, turning fully towards me.

"What'd you just say to me?"

"I said, watch it." My heart was racing a mile a minute, but I wasn't going to back down. I admittedly still had some anger coursing through me from earlier. I probably wouldn't have said anything if I didn't. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Fangs straightening up and cross his arms over his chest. The blond's eyes flashed to something behind me before he drew himself up even taller.

"Apologize, Summers." Sweet Pea's deep voice came from just over my right shoulder.

"Sorry for bumping into your flavor of the week, Pea." Summers rolled his eyes, laughing. Before anything else could be said, a loud voice cut through the tension surrounding our small group.

"Everything good here, boys?" The new voice caught the attention of everyone around us. I vaguely recognized the man approaching us; he was in a few photos back at the house. But I had no idea who he was. The way everyone's attention went to him told me he was important.

"Everything's fine. Summers was just about to apologize for almost knocking Pony over." The expression on the leader's face changed at the mention of my name.

"This is Pony?" He tossed the question out to no one in particular before turning towards me, holding out his hand. "Nice to finally meet you, Pony. I'm FP. Heard a lot about you from Doc." I reached out, shaking his hand briefly.

"Nice to meet you too."

"How's your old man? Haven't seen him around in a few days." His question threw me for a loop for a second. Doc had been going out after dinner a few nights this week, and I'd been under the impression he'd been here doing Serpent things.

"Good, good. He's been working a lot." FP nodded his head, then transferred his attention to Summers. Without so much as another word from him, FP had the blond stuttering out an apology. The crowd returned to normal once their leader was back upstairs. I turned back around to my friends just in time to see Toni come flying towards me.

"Jesus, Pony. The look on your face, I thought you were gonna stab him!" She exclaimed, pulling me into a short hug. I didn't even have time to hug her back before she was releasing me. "I'm supposed to worry about these idiots stabbing someone, not you!"

"Stab him with what? The pool stick?" Fangs snorted, rolling his eyes.

"With the knife she should have in her pocket." Toni shot back at him. "You do have it, right? I told you to start carrying it."

"Yes, mother. I have it." I patted my back pocket, where I'd put it before leaving the house earlier. I'd been ready to head out, turning back for it at the last second. "I was-"

"Who the hell gave you a weapon?" Sweet Pea interrupted.

"Doc." I shot at him, hoping the answer would have him backing off. "I'm supposed to ask one of you for pointers."

"You want pointers for what? How to not hurt yourself? Simple. Don't take it out of your pocket." Both Fangs and Toni smacked Sweet Pea. "Ow, what? She's only gonna hurt herself if she tries to use it."

"You're supposed to help her so she doesn't, asshole." Toni smacked him in the arm again. "I gotta get back to work. Don't get into any more trouble." She rolled her eyes before heading back towards the bar. Sweet Pea sighed, rolling his shoulders.

"Alright, let's see it."

"Here?" I glanced at all the people around us warily.

"Where else?" He shot at me, annoyed look on his face. It was starting to feel like that was the only thing he felt when he was speaking to me. That and anger.

"I don't know. Somewhere not crawling with people?" I shot back. He rolled his eyes, sighing again. Then headed towards the door. "Where is he going?" I turned towards my only remaining friend in the immediate vicinity.

"Probably the parking lot." Fangs jerked his chin in the direction that Sweet Pea disappeared. "C'mon." I followed behind the pair of them, nerves ticking up slightly. I had no reason to be panicking, and I reminded myself of that, but it only helped calm me a little. There were considerably less people outside in the parking lot. Which was understandable. The air was getting colder and colder by the day. It was cold enough right now that I could see my breath in the air. I tucked one of my hands into the long sleeve of my sweatshirt, coming to a stop a few feet away from where Sweet Pea was standing. The other hand reached into my back pocket. I deposited the closed knife in his outstretched hand without a word. He flipped it open, turning it around, inspecting it. The dim glow from the street light catching the rings on his fingers occasionally.

"Can you open it with one hand?"

"I haven't tried." I admitted. "This is the first time I've taken it out of the house."

"Pony." Fangs scolded. "We talked about this."

"I know. I know. But seriously, I'm never by myself. I'm either at school, at home, or with you guys. I didn't really think I needed it."

"Things with the Ghoulies-"

"Are getting worse." I cut him off. "I know. That's why I have it now."

"'Kay, first off, you need to practice opening it with one hand. If you need to use it, you're not gonna have enough time to carefully open it with both hands." I nodded, my fingers twitching. A million different scenarios running through my head that I would need to pull a knife out for. None of them made me feel less nervous. "Second, the way you hold it is going to depend on where the person is that's attacking you. If they're coming at you from the front, you're gonna hold it like this." He held his hand out. The blade was shining in the dim light, like his rings had, pointing up from his closed fist. I nodded again. "If they're coming at you from behind, hold it like this." He flipped the knife around, so that the blade was pointing down in his fist. "If it's a Ghoulie coming after you, they'll probably sneak up from behind. They're a bunch of cowards." I swallowed thickly. "Got it?"

"Up if they're coming from the front. Down if they're coming from behind. Got it." I meshed the information Sweet Pea had given me with what Doc had said when he'd given me the knife in my head. _Stab 'em, get the knife back, and get the hell out of there._ Jesus, I really hoped I would never actually have to use this advice.


	9. Chapter 8

"Hey, kid." I jumped at the voice interrupting the silent house. Mom had come home from the meeting with dad's lawyer alone. Doc apparently had something to do afterwards. She hadn't said anything about how it had gone, and I was too nervous to ask. I'd just retreated to my room. When I heard the TV shut off and their bedroom door close, I'd pulled the knife back out from where I'd stashed it in my sock drawer. I still didn't want mom finding out about it. I was practicing flipping it open with one hand when Doc's voice sounded out. "What's this I hear about you nearly getting into a fight at the Wyrm?"

"It was not a fight. Some guy nearly knocked me over, I got mad about it, and then someone made him apologize."

"Someone?" He rose his eyebrows, giving me a pointed look. "Someone named Fangs?" This had me rolling my eyes. They were never going to give up on that.

"No. It was actually FP." That had him straightening up. "He asked about you, by the way." I flipped the knife open and closed again. I was halfway decent at it by now. But who knows how well it would go if I was in an actual threatening situation.

"What'd you say to him?"

"He asked how you were, that he hadn't seen you around for a few days. I said you were fine, that you've been working a lot. Why? What's going on?"

"Nothing. I just haven't been down to see any of them in a few days with all the extra hours I've been putting in to cover the lawyer fees." He took a breath, leaning against the door jamb. "Did your mom talk to you about that at all?"

"How tonight went? No. She didn't say a word to me."

"It went like we expected, dinner every other Saturday in exchange for full custody. I know that you don't wanna go back there, but like I said before, if you wanna live here, we have to play by the rules. It sucks, but that's the way it is."

"Why couldn't mom just tell me this?"

"Your dad's been going after her pretty hard through all of this. Questioning her character, her decisions, her relationship with your siblings, her relationship with me. She puts on a brave face, but sometimes it gets to her. This whole thing had been rough for her." I wanted to tell him that I knew how it felt, to have those kinds of things leech into your brain. How even though you know it's not true, you still believe it a little because it's been said so many times. I didn't say anything though. "Get some sleep, kid. Love you."

"Love you too." I answered. I waited until I heard their bedroom door open and close again, then I went back to practicing opening and closing the knife in my hand.

* * *

"What's going on with you? You've been quiet." I glanced up from the bonfire in front of me. Toni dropped onto the ancient couch next to me, worry on her face.

"Newsflash, I'm always quiet." She rolled her eyes, knocking her shoulders lightly into mine.

"I mean you're being more quiet than usual. And you've been staring at the fire for almost twenty minutes, barely blinking. So, what's going on?" I hesitated, knowing Toni wasn't going to understand what was going on in my head.

"It's nothing. I'm just overthinking everything." I glanced around at everyone else. This wasn't my first time at the quarries with my Serpent friends. It was, however, the first time I was out here after dark. Usually I headed home before it got too late, not wanting to get into any trouble and get myself sent back to the Northside. But now, Mom and Doc officially had full custody. Getting caught out after dark on the Southside wasn't going to be a problem. Everyone around me looked to be having a great time. And I wanted to. I wanted to let loose and have fun too. I just couldn't get out of my head.

"C'mon, Pony. Let me in that brain. What's going on?"

"Nothing, I'm just- I can't stop thinking about this whole custody thing." With a sigh, I ran a hand through my loose hair. My eyes fixed on the fire again.

"I thought that was done?"

"It is. I just, I still feel like the carpet's gonna get pulled out from under me though. Like my dad's got some ace up his sleeve he's gonna show and everything's gonna go back to the way it was. Having to tiptoe around everywhere, making sure nothing goes wrong so I don't have to be put between them fighting over me again." Toni sat back with a look on her face I couldn't quite recognize. "What?"

"Nothing. It sounds like a good problem to have. Both your parents are alive and present, fighting over who you get to live with. They haven't skipped out on you. You aren't couch surfing because your uncle kicks you out sometimes. You don't live with your grandparents because your parents disappeared or got arrested. You have both of your parents fighting over where you're going to be. And you're upset about that?"

"It's not like that." I turned towards her, confused about where all this was coming from.

"You're complaining about both your parents wanting you to live with them. I hate to sound like Pea here, but, you're really sounding like a Northsider." I could not believe what I was hearing come from Toni's mouth. She'd been my friend almost since the second I stepped into Southside High. How could I not know that's how she felt about all this?

"That's not-" I couldn't even finish an entire thought before she was rolling her eyes at me. I stood up abruptly, not wanting to hear anything else she felt like saying. She shot me one last look before I turned around and stormed away. Fangs attempted to grab my arm as I passed by him. But I ducked out of his reach.

"Where are you going?" He called after me.

"Somewhere that's not here." I shot back, a little more heated than he deserved, but I couldn't bring myself to care right now. A quick glance around the crowd told me there wasn't anyone else I felt like talking to. So, I pulled my hood over my head and started walking towards home. I could make it home at roughly the same time I would if I'd stayed at the quarries and gotten a ride home from someone. I'd been walking for twenty minutes in the pitch black when a pair of headlights swept over me. I tensed, but figured my anxiety was just getting the better of me, so I kept walking. The car slowed as it passed me, making my paranoia leap sky high again. But I made myself keep walking.

"Hey, girlie!" The semi-familiar voice halted me in my tracks. The car pulled to a stop at the curb a few feet ahead of me. From the car, four Ghoulies appeared. Only one of them was familiar. His locker was across the hall from mine. The other three looked older. "Looky here, boys. We've got ourselves a Serpent girl."

"What's a pretty thing like you doing out here all alone? Especially at a time like this?" I swallowed thickly as they started creeping closer to me. My hands were shaking, and for the life of me, I couldn't get myself to do anything except move back away from them. My brain was screaming to just run. Run anywhere, just away from here. The only thing I could get my limbs to do was step backwards.

"You never know who you could run into out here in the dark." They kept coming towards me. I kept moving away. My back coming into contact with the chain link fence is what really sparked my brain to life. Suddenly I remembered the knife I had in my back pocket.

"Back off." My voice was not commanding. It was more of a tremble as I pulled the knife out of my pocket, flipping it open. This only sent a round of laughter through them.

"Do you even know how to use that thing, girlie?" One of them laughed, stepping even closer to me than the others; close enough to me that I could feel the heat radiating off his body. He lifted a hand towards my face, but I flinched away before he could actually touch me. He laughed again, reaching for me faster than he had before. What happened next was a blur. It was like time was too fast to hold onto, but slower than it had ever been. When his hand shot out, I tightened my grip and swung my arm at him. He hadn't been expecting it. Neither had the others, because all of them widened their eyes at the sight of my knife sticking into the outside of the closest one's thigh. My eyes were wide too. Then in a split second, everything Doc had said when he'd given me the knife ran through my head. One second the pretty, white handled knife was sticking out of the thigh of a Ghoulie; the next I was wrenching it out of his flesh and sprinting away. The four Ghoulies in too much of a state of shock over what had happened to come running after me.

* * *

I stayed in the house for the rest of the weekend. I even skipped school on Monday. Mom knew something had happened on Friday night, she just didn't know what. Toni and Fangs had been flooding my phone with messages and calls since Saturday morning. When Toni showed up on Sunday, mom agreed to tell her I was still sleeping and I'd see her at school. When I didn't show up by first period, the flood of messages had started again. They'd even gotten Sweet Pea to send me a few messages, or messages from them on Sweet Pea's phone. I didn't read or open anything from them. By Monday night, mom decided she needed to pull out the big guns. Doc knocked gently on my open bedroom door, holding a grease stained bag in his outstretched hand.

"Double bacon cheese burger with steak fries." My eyebrows rose, highly considering getting out of the bed I'd barely left for three days. "Chocolate mint milkshake in the kitchen with your name on it." That got me up. He pulled the bag out of my reach right before I grabbed it. "Food is only available to those who tell their parents why they've hold up in their room for an entire weekend plus."

"I just don't feel like talking to anyone." I threw out, even though I knew they would want more than that.

"Did something happen? Did someone do something?"

"No. I'm fine. I just-" I sighed. I'd holed myself up for a long time, and I'd had a lot of time to think about everything in my new life. "Who am I kidding trying to fit in here? I don't belong here."

"What are you talking about? Of course you belong here."

"I don't, though. I'm too Southside for the Northside, and I'm too Northside for the Southside."

"You, Saponaria Anne Marie, are my kickass daughter. You belong where ever you want to be. And if anyone has a problem with that, kick their ass. I'll kick their ass if you need me to." I let out a small smile. "There we go." He held out the Pop's takeout bag. "You're going to school tomorrow. And I don't want to hear anything about it."

* * *

"Where the hell have you been?" The loud voice behind me made me jump. My hand tightened around the edge of my locker door as I tried to keep my heart rate from going any higher. It was already approaching dangerous levels. "I've been trying to apologize all weekend. A, I was totally overreacting. B, I didn't know about your dad."

"What?" I asked, spinning around. Toni was standing behind me.

"Your dad comes after you. I didn't know."

"How do you know now?"

"Fangs told me. Apparently Sweets knew?" One of her eyebrows rose as she gave me a questioning look. What happened to him not telling anyone? I shrugged it off, like it was no big deal.

"Yeah, he, uh, he figured it out a little while ago."

"How? I didn't know you and Sweets were spending so much time together." She hoisted the bag on her shoulder a little higher.

"We don't." I slammed my locker shut. Anything else I was going to say died in my throat when I turned back towards Toni, only to see several Ghoulies gathering behind her. My hand went straight to the back pocket of my jeans. But it was empty. I hadn't been able to pick up the knife since I'd gotten home Friday night. I'd tried several times this morning to make myself, but I couldn't. The panic must've been written across my face, because one of the Ghoulies threw a smirk my way while Toni whirled around.

"No knife today, girlie?" I swallowed the panic that was rising higher and higher in my throat.

"What the hell are you idiots talking about?" Toni snapped at them.

"Ask your friend here. She's the one that attacked us."

" _I_ attacked _you?_ " The question laced with disbelief was out of my mouth before I could stop it. "You came at me. I was defending myself from you."

"The hell's going on here?" Sweet Pea's loud voice cut through the murmurs that had erupted in the hallway at my statement. Standing behind him were several other high school Serpents. More than the amount of Ghoulies gathered in front of us.

"Watch your back." The one high school aged Ghoulie from last night spat at me as they started to disperse. "You won't always have your body guards around." I didn't move a muscle as the crowd that had quickly grown disappeared. Toni cleared her throat.

"What the hell was that all about?"

"I- They-" I couldn't make the words come out of my mouth.

"Spit it out already. We don't have all day."

"Nothing. I'm fine." I blinked rapidly, turning on my heel and heading towards the closest bathroom. If I could just get there, I would be okay. My pinky fingers started tingling and my ears were ringing. Which made me panic even more. By the time I made it to the bathroom, I was having a full-fledged panic attack. Not caring about the questionable cleanliness of the tiled floors, I slumped against the wall and sank to the ground. My shaking hands went from clenched fists to flat against the cool floor in an attempt to ground myself. A few tears leaked out of my eyes as I let out a shaky breath. _You're fine. Everything is okay. You're fine. Everything is okay._ I repeated the five words rapidly over and over in my head. I snapped out of my inner chanting when a pair of warm hands gently placed themselves on either side of my face. My hands flew up, frantically trying to rip them away from me.

"Hey, it's just me. It's okay. It's just me. It's Toni." My vision, blurry from the panic induced tears, cleared enough for me to actually see who was crouched in front of me. Toni's pink streaked braids were the first thing that registered with my brain. I didn't even care that I'd been ignoring her for the entire weekend. I also didn't care that she'd called me a Northsider to hurt me. I just needed someone that I knew wasn't there to do anything but help me through this panic attack. She sat with me for a few more minutes until my panic subsided. I didn't speak up until my breathing had returned to normal.

"I stabbed a Ghoulie."

* * *

 _A/N: Not totally thrilled with this chapter. But after rewriting it three times I decided to just go with it. Let me know what you think!_


	10. Chapter 9

"I stabbed a Ghoulie." I admitted, still sitting on the disgusting bathroom floor. Toni's eyebrows rose nearly into her hairline as a loud pair of 'what's came from outside the bathroom door. A second later, Fangs and Sweet Pea were standing in the open doorway.

"You stabbed a Ghoulie?" Fangs blurted out.

"Is that what all that was about?" Toni nodded her head towards the hallway we had all been in earlier. I nodded, biting my lip.

"I didn't- They were all coming at me and I just stabbed the closest one and got the hell out of there."

"Look at you goin' full Southside." Sweet Pea almost sounded proud of me.

"Wait, when did this happen? When were you with a Ghoulie long enough for you to stab one?" Fangs questioned, leaning against the sink behind him.

"Friday night, when I was walking home."

"You walked home? From the quarries?"

"Yeah."

"And why didn't you call someone after it happened?" Toni added.

"I don't know! I was freaking out!" My voice louder than it needed to be. Not understanding how they didn't understand that I was freaking out then, just like I was freaking out now.

"Hey!" Someone in the hallway called towards us. "Get to class!" With a heavy breath, I hauled myself off the floor.

"This explains why the Ghoulies were acting up all weekend." Sweet Pea stated.

"Sorry." I winced, knowing I was the sole cause for their increased Ghoulie problem. Things had been picking up with them lately, but I'd probably made it ten times worse.

"Hey, don't be sorry." Fangs gave me a smile and threw his arm over my shoulder. "You're basically already a Serpent now. You stabbed a Ghoulie."

"Because being Doc's daughter didn't do that for her already." Toni rolled her eyes while grinning and falling into step beside us.

* * *

"Pony, let's go." I looked up from stuffing my homework into my backpack. I'd just finished my math homework and was putting it away to bring back to school. Doc was standing in the front doorway, waiting for me. And he didn't look happy.

"Go where? What's going on?"

"Get in the car." I swallowed harshly, rising from the chair I was seated in at the dining room table.

"I just gotta get my shoes."

"Hurry up." I slammed my feet into my boots, not bothering to tie them, before hurrying out the front door behind Doc. It was silent as he drove to the Whyte Wyrm and walked us inside. The only thing I got from him before he headed upstairs was a rough 'wait here'. I took in a few deep breaths before pulling myself up onto a stool. There were a few people milling about, but not nearly enough to distract from the fact that Doc hadn't said a word to me the whole way over here. As long as I'd known him, he hadn't purposefully given me the silent treatment. Whatever he was feeling, his reaction to whatever I did; he always told me. Even if he thought it was something I didn't want to hear. That fact alone was making me want to throw up.

"You okay over there?" My eyes flashed up from the spot on the table I was staring at to Sweet Pea standing over by the pool table. No one else was around right now, so he was definitely talking to me.

"Fine."

"You sure? 'Cause you look a little like you did this morning before Toni kicked us out of the bathroom." My face burned with embarrassment. Sweet Pea had seen me while I was in an all-out panic attack. He wasn't wrong though. I was on the brink of another panic attack. The only thing holding me back from being completely consumed by the panic was the fact that Doc was upstairs right now. He and my mom were still in the dark about how bad my anxiety had gotten.

"I'll be fine."

"You're not gonna be in trouble, if that's what you're worried about. At least not with FP." He shrugged, going back to his solo game of pool.

"How do you know that?" I slid off the bar stool underneath me and approached the pool table. Sweet Pea didn't answer me until he'd taken his next shot and then handed the pool cue over to me. I inspected the table before rounding the corner and starting to line up the shot.

"FP looked almost impressed when I told him it was you that messed up the Ghoulie."

"You _told him_ it was me?" I spun around to stare at him.

"Yeah." He shrugged again. "He needed to know. Besides, I heard you missed all the important parts on that Ghoulie. You gonna take a shot or what?" I let out a slow breath before turning back to the pool table. Neither of us spoke again until I was summoned upstairs.

"Here goes nothin'." I mumbled under my breath before taking the stairs up to the loft. Doc and FP were both waiting for me. Both standing in the middle of the space with their arms crossed over their chests.

"First things first, are you okay?" I was glad FP was taking the lead on the questioning. I didn't think I would be able to take it if Doc was. I was already nervous enough with him standing there staring me down.

"I'm fine. They didn't have a chance to actually do anything."

"Okay. Walk us through it. What happened?"

"I was just walking down the sidewalk when they pulled up on the curb. There were four of them. I sort of froze, not really able to do anything until they walked me back into the fence." I bit my lip, thinking about how bad it could've gone. "They were closing in on me, one of them getting closer than the others. I told him to back off. He didn't. So I took out my knife and, I don't know, I stabbed him and ran."

"Do you remember anyone specifically?"

"I've only ever seen one of them before. His locker is across the hall from mine. I don't know who the others were." I ran a shaky hand through my hair.

"Has no one talked to you about walking around by yourself?"

"They have. I knew things were getting bad with the Ghoulies. I just- I wanted to go home. And no one else did. So, I started walking."

"Fangs couldn't give you a ride home?" Doc finally broke his silence. His question made me roll my eyes with an exasperated sigh.

"How many times do have to tell you? We're not dating. We're friends."

"Do you have it on you? The knife?" FP brought the attention back to him.

"No. I, uh, I haven't been able to pick it up since." I admitted. I curled my pinky and ring fingers tightly into each of my palms. It helped calm down some of the tingling.

"That's alright. Where is it?"

"At home. In my dresser. Mom doesn't know I have it." I let out a soft snort. "Although I guess she will now."

"Neither of us can get out of it now, kid." Doc ran a hand over his face, rolling his shoulders. He was right, neither of us were going to be safe from her wrath over this one.

"I've had a chat with the Ghoulies, they won't be pursuing this. In a legal sense. They didn't even take their guy to the hospital. So, you're good there. Neither of you need to worry about that." The sudden realization that I could've been arrested washed over me. I hadn't even thought about that. In all of my overthinking, I hadn't once considered what would have happened if the Ghoulie I'd stabbed had gone to the hospital and gotten the cops involved.

"Alright, get outta here. Your mom's waiting for you at home." I nodded at Doc's words, rushing down the stairs. Toni and Fangs had joined Sweet Pea at the pool table. I blew right past them. Not stopping until I was outside, sucking in fresh air. Only Toni followed me out.

"You okay?"

"Gimme a minute." I rested my hands on the top of my head, forcing myself to take slow controlled breaths. In and out, until I didn't feel like throwing up anymore. "Okay. I'm good now." She held her arms open, silently asking if it was okay to hug me. I nodded, wrapping my own arms around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry I was such a bitch Friday night. If I hadn't-"

"It's not your fault, Toni. I shouldn't've walked home. I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway." The pair of us released each other, heading back towards the front door of the Wyrm. We got as far as the pool table when I remembered I was supposed to be headed home. "Can somebody give me a ride home? My mom's waiting for me."

* * *

"How'd the second inquisition go?" I initially answered Toni's question with a shrug. Then sat up fully at the picnic table outside the school. Currently she was copying the vocab definitions for our most recent English assignment.

"Well, it started out with her confiscating my knife and ended with both of us yelling about therapy."

"What?" Toni looked up from her notebook.

"She's pissed that I haven't told her how bad my anxiety has been. She wants me to see a therapist, and she really didn't like when I pointed out that we don't really have the money for that."

"Yikes."

"I know. But I'm not wrong. We're barely keeping above water with all the lawyer fees. Doc's been killing himself getting as many hours as he can. So has my mom. And I wouldn't be helping anything if I started going to therapy weekly. I mean, how much does that cost anyway? It can't be cheap."

"At least a couple hundred dollars a session." Toni added in, even though we both knew I wasn't really looking for an answer.

"She's pissed at Doc too. For the knife. But she's more mad about the therapy thing than about me stabbing a guy." I let out a sigh, folding my arms on top of the picnic table and resting my head on top of them. My eyes slid shut, hoping maybe I could get a few minutes of rest before class started. "I thought Thing One and Thing Two needed to copy that too."

"They do. If they don't get here soon, they aren't gonna have enough- Finally! Cutting it close." I didn't pick my head up, but the bounce of the bench underneath me told me someone had sat down next to me.

"Sorry, Topaz, had something to take care of."

"Like what? It's eight o'clock in the morning."

"Like tracking down the Ghoulies that went after Pony." That got my attention. Not only for the fact that they were trying to track down the guys from Friday night, but mostly because of the fact that Sweet Pea had called me Pony instead of Northside. This fact also drew the attention of Toni and Fangs. When I opened my eyes, both of them were staring at him. "What?" He snapped at them, standard angry look back on his face.

"Nothing. Nothing. Better get to copying. We've got two minutes before the first bell." They quickly scribbled down the vocab words, barely having enough time before the first warning bell rang. Our group dispersed without a word. All grabbing our things and heading into the school. I didn't notice I wasn't by myself until I was at my locker and a familiar form leaned against the locker next to mine.

"Isn't your first class on the complete opposite side of the building?" I questioned, shoving my backpack into the small space.

"Yeah."

"Okay? Then why are you here?"

"You heard them yesterday. They threatened you. We can't just leave you to fend for yourself. Especially if you don't have anything to defend yourself with." I couldn't argue that point. The Ghoulies had told me to watch my back yesterday. And mom had taken my knife away, even though I still hadn't been able to pick it up. Sweet Pea had me there.

"So you guys are just gonna follow me around again? Like at the beginning of the year?" He didn't answer me. "Cool." With a sigh, I grabbed my notebooks and slammed my locker shut. We started off down the hallway together. "You were wrong, by the way. About the Ghoulies coming at me from behind." He still didn't answer me. I rolled my eyes, stopping outside my first class. "Thanks for the escort. I'm good."

"There aren't any of us in your class."

"Oh my god, Sweet Pea. They aren't going to shank me in the middle of class." At least, I didn't think they would. I didn't know the Ghoulies well enough to know if they were bold enough to come after me while we were in class. I doubted it since they hadn't yesterday.

"Wait here for someone after class." I rolled my eyes again. "I'm serious, Pony."

"Alright. I'll wait here after class."


	11. Chapter 10

The rest of the week was a lot like my first few weeks of school. I had a Serpent shadow everywhere. The difference this time was that they now were following me everywhere I went, not just at school. No one would let me go anywhere by myself. They wouldn't even let me be home alone. If my mom or Doc weren't home, they'd wait for them to show up before going home themselves. On one hand, I knew why they were doing it. It had only been a week since the Ghoulies had come after me. They were just trying to keep me safe. On the other hand, I really was sick of not being able to just be alone. I liked being able to just do nothing. To just lay in my bed and mindlessly scroll through social media without having to think or worry about anything for hours. Not thinking about anything was proving to be difficult when the news broke Saturday morning.

FP Jones had been arrested for the murder of Jason Blossom. Everyone around me was scrambling to not only make sense of it, but also make sure that Serpent business was being taken care of in his absence. FP was their leader. And now their leader was locked up for who knew how long. I hadn't seen Doc or any of my friends all weekend. I got almost more quiet time than I could handle. By the time Sunday night rolled around, I was so bored I'd cleaned my entire room, including going through my closet and getting rid of clothes that didn't fit anymore. I'd put on weight since moving in with mom and Doc. Not a lot, but enough that I no longer fit into any of my old jeans.

"Hey, mom?" I called, walking through the kitchen to the living room. My mom had just collapsed onto the couch after spending the day cleaning every surface in the house. All I got in response was a soft hum. "Are you awake?"

"Barely."

"I know money's kinda tight right now, but I have literally two pairs of jeans that fit. Can-" This had her sitting up quickly.

"Honey, we talked about this. I don't want you worrying about money."

"I'm sort of the cause of the lack of money, so I do worry about it. You guys were fine until I moved in." She sighed at my response.

"I have to be in to work early tomorrow, but I'll leave you some cash on the counter. Maybe you can convince your friends to go shopping after school." I nodded, thanking her. Then retreated back into my room. There were three bodies there that hadn't been when I'd left the room. I jumped nearly a mile in the air, barely able to contain the scream that tried to escape my throat.

"Jesus Christ! You guys scared the shit out of me!" One of my hands pressed into the skin over my heart. It was a miracle it was still beating.

"One," Toni started, sitting up from the lounging position she'd been in when I'd entered the room, "I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever heard you swear. Two, can I borrow the lipstick you're wearing and where did you buy it?" It took me a second to realize that I was, in fact, wearing lipstick. I'd unearthed it while I was cleaning my room and wanted to know what it looked like. I didn't even remember buying the dark purple, almost black, shade.

"Sure." I stepped around Fangs' stretched out legs, heading for the basket of makeup I barely used on my desk. It was mostly lipstick, dark eyeshadow, and an excess of eyeliner. Things I found fun to play with but wasn't confident enough to wear outside my house.

"Why don't you wear this more?"

"I don't know." I dropped onto my bed, next to Fangs who'd made himself right at home. Sweet Pea was seated on the futon, hands clasped and elbows resting on his knees. He seemed to be the most stressed out about FP. Toni swiped the dark color on her lips, admiring herself in the mirror as it dried down.

"What other gems do you have in here?" Twenty minutes later found me on the way to a full face of makeup, courtesy of Toni Topaz. She'd gotten really excited about what she'd found in my makeup stash, demanding I let her do my makeup. I figured she could use a distraction. So, I agreed.

"How'd you guys get in here anyway?"

"I slept here for almost a week. I know how to get in and out of here." Toni admitted, blending another shade of eyeshadow on my eyelid. "How was dinner yesterday?"

"I wanted to throat punch every single one of them the second I entered the house. The feeling didn't leave until I left." The room fell silent. I cracked one of my eyes open to see what they were all doing. They were looking at me. "What?"

"Your dad?"

"Nothing yesterday. I was never alone with him." They continued to stare. "Seriously. He doesn't do anything when any of my siblings are around. If they don't see anything, they can't turn on him. Plus they were are preoccupied with the whole FP thing." The three of them still didn't look like they believed me. A loud sigh escaped me. Careful not to mess up the makeup Toni was still working on, I pulled my sweatshirt over my head. "See? Look, nothing." I held my arms out in front of me, twisting them around. I hadn't been lying. There were no new bruises or marks. The hand print bruise from two weeks ago was still slightly visible, but it was fading fast. Fangs took a hold of my wrist, lightly running his fingers over the bruise.

"Doc and Molly still don't know anything about this?"

"No. And they're not going to." I pulled my arm back. "They've got too much going on right now." Toni sighed, tilting my face up again. My eyes fluttered closed, letting her finish up with my makeup. It took her ten more minutes until she officially called it done.

"Question, can you recreate this for school tomorrow? 'Cause you look good."

* * *

The Southside Serpents weren't done being turned upside down yet. Sunday night, two days after FP was arrested, Mom woke me up just before twelve. Doc had been arrested. She didn't give me any more information than that before telling me to stay put. Then she headed for the sheriff station. I couldn't calm my brain down enough to fall back asleep. So I called Toni. She didn't answer. Fangs didn't answer either. As a last resort, I called Sweet Pea. He answered with a rough 'hello'.

"Hey, Pea, it's Pony. Are you at the Wyrm?"

"Yeah."

"Are Toni or Fangs there? They aren't- They aren't answering their phones." I ran my free hand through my hair. Nervous energy building up in me now that I'd stopped pacing. I was dangerously close to crying. There was too much going on in my head right now.

"Toni's working. Fogarty is right here."

"Can I talk to him please?" I could practically feel his eye roll from here. Then Fangs' voice filled my ear.

"Hey, Pony! What's up?"

"I need- I don't-" I stumbled through my words. Not entirely sure how to get the words out of my head in comprehensible sentences. "I need someone."

"What? Why? What's going on?"

"Doc was arrested. Mom went to the sheriff station. I can't- I'm freaking out over here. I don't know what to do."

"We'll be right there." Then the line went dead. It was ten minutes before there was a knock on the front door. Considering the threat the Ghoulies still presented, I probably should've checked the peephole before I flung the door open. But I wasn't thinking clearly. It was just Fangs on the other side of the door. Neither of our two other friends were anywhere to be seen.

"Toni is working and Sweet Pea is still talking to Tall Boy. They'll be here later." I nodded, not bothering to make sure the door shut behind him before going back to pacing from one end of the living room to the other. I'd been doing that or sitting on the edge of the couch bouncing my leg rapidly since my mom had left. It was almost one in the morning now. My body was exhausted and practically begging me to go to sleep. My brain still wouldn't settle down enough.

"I have this nagging feeling that this is my fault. Like, I know it's just my anxiety making me think that. But I still can't shake the feeling. And I'm starting to fall into a rabbit hole." I finally announced after Fangs had been watching me pace for almost five minutes.

"You want me to let you drown in your anxiety, or do we need to come up with a distraction?"

"Distraction."

"What do you usually do to distract yourself?"

"Netflix." I let out a sigh, picking up the TV remote from the coffee table. "Pick whatever." Fangs grabbed the offered remote from my hand and looked for something to watch while I grabbed a blanket from my room. He'd made himself comfortable on the couch, sans boots and jacket. I dropped into the spot next to him. I had no idea what we were watching, but it was doing its job of distracting me from the fake impending doom I felt.

"It's not your fault, Pony." Fangs spoke up while the second episode was starting.

"I know."

"We're Southside Serpents. We get picked up all the time."

"I know." I said again. Another episode later, and Sweet Pea and Toni were knocking on the front door. I let them in, sitting back down quickly. My anxiety had returned full force at their appearance. Toni draped her jacket over the same chair Fangs had, settling into the matching arm chair across from it. Which left the only open seat for Sweet Pea on the opposite side of me. The TV was paused while I waited for either of them to say something. My knee was bouncing up and down again.

"They're charging him with distribution. He had a couple bags of weed on him." Pea finally spoke up. "He should be out before noon. Your mom's waiting at the station."

"Oh, thank God." A flood of relief washed over me. I felt like I could breathe again. That was better news than I had been expecting. Although I typically went straight to the worst-case scenario in my head. In my mind, Doc getting arrested had been somehow connected to FP's arrest and he was going to end up in prison until he was dead. The show on the TV was un-paused and the three around me were occasionally talking about something. But I didn't really hear anything they were saying. I fell asleep quickly.

* * *

"You checked your phone yet this morning?" Toni questioned, falling into step beside me.

"When would I have had time to do that?" None of us had gotten up in a timely fashion this morning, having fallen asleep in my living room. We'd woken up five minutes before first period started. Fangs and Sweet Pea had brought up skipping the entire day, but Toni wouldn't let them. I'd barely had time to breathe this morning between getting myself ready and finding clean t-shirts for Fangs and Sweet Pea who refused to just go home and get their own. Toni had helped herself to my closet, which I didn't mind in the slightest. Except for the fact that the shirt she was wearing looked way better on her than it ever had on me.

"I don't know. Do it now."

"Why? What'd you send me?" I pulled my phone from my back pocket.

"I didn't send you anything. Go look at my snap story." She looked like she was struggling to hold back a giant grin while waiting for me to unlock my phone and open the app. The first two were just selfies with different filters. Definitely not something to be acting like she was. The third part, however, was from this morning. Fangs, Sweet Pea, and I were fast asleep on the couch together. Fangs at one end with his head tilted back, mouth open. My back was against his side with my face pressed into his shoulder. At the other end of the couch, Sweet Pea was asleep with his chin tucked into his chest and his arms crossed. My feet were tucked behind his back. I could hear Toni laughing softly in the video.

"When did you take this?"

"This morning when I got up. I took a couple more too. You know, to save as blackmail." I rolled my eyes, knowing she didn't actually mean it. "So, did you hear?"

"Hear what?" I stepped around a group of kids who were blocking half of the hallway.

"Mustang's dead. OD'd in his bathroom."

"Jesus, really?"

"Yeah, Joaquin found him."

"Jesus, really?" I repeated myself. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know. He disappeared, probably laying low so Keller doesn't haul him in too." Now I wished I'd tried to help convince Toni to ditch today. Everything felt like it was going wrong. It made me want to sleep for a week straight. "You okay?"

"I'll be fine." I rolled my shoulders, trying to ease some of the tension that was starting to build between my shoulder blades. Toni started to say something else but was cut off by a shout at the other end of the hallway.

"Topaz!" Once Sweet Pea was confident that he'd gotten her attention, he shot her a glare. "This means war!"

"Bring it!" She shouted back.

"What are you going to war over?" I questioned, waiting as she opened her locker and shoved a few folders in it.

"Probably the snap story, but who really knows. He's probably just on edge about everything going on." She slammed her locker shut, turning back towards me. "He just needs to hit something and he'll feel better." Sweet Pea's mood did not improve at all over the rest of the day. Every little thing set him off. At one point, I was almost positive he was going to punch our English teacher. The only thing that kept him from actually doing it was the fact that a meeting had been called for the Serpents after school. He couldn't go to that if he was getting hauled in on assault charges. The final bell of the day had them all rushing to get out of the school. I barely had time to stop at my locker before I was being shoved out the door towards the parking lot. The unofficial Serpent parking area was practically empty. The only person left I really spoke to was Sweet Pea. His temperament today made me contemplate just walking home and suffering the wrath of any and all Serpents in my life later. The fact that he was stalking towards his motorcycle and not Fangs' truck also made me contemplate walking.

"Let's go, Northside!" His shout had me rushing after him, despite my reservations about having to get on the motorcycle. He didn't say anything else, just handed me a helmet when I got close enough. I deposited it atop my head and buckled it underneath my chin, but that was as far as I went. "What are you waiting for?"

"Uh, I've never actually been on one."

"Doc's never taken you for a ride?"

"The only place he takes me is my dad's, and I'd probably be skinned alive if I showed up there on the back of a motorcycle." He sighed, running a hand over his face.

"Alright. Just, put your feet here and here," he pointed out two small pegs, "and hold on. I'll go slow-ish." I wanted to ask what slow-ish meant, but he was in a mood. So, I kept my questions to myself, swallowed the rising anxiety in my throat, and swung a leg over. Despite the initial panic from my not holding onto Sweet Pea tight enough, it wasn't as terrifying as I'd anticipated. It was fun, exhilarating even. I understood why people loved this so much. There was a small twinge of sadness about the ride being over when we reached the last turn for my street. The twinge was quickly replaced with a different emotion at the sight of three sheriff's vehicles parked outside my house.

* * *

 _A/N: Again, this took me forever to update. Again, not entirely happy with this. Sorry._


	12. Chapter 11

Sweet Pea had barely come to a stop before I was pulling the helmet off my head and flying towards the front door. The feeling of not being able to breathe properly was starting to become familiar. Sheriff Keller stopped me on the front walk.

"I'm sorry, but you can't go in there." His statement sucked even more air from my lungs. Had something happened to mom or Doc? Both of them?

"I live here." I told him, trying to duck around him. He stopped me again. "Get off me! What's going on?"

"Pony!" The familiar voice called from somewhere to my left. I spun around so fast my vision blurred for a second. Doc was leaning against the front of one of the sheriff vehicles. His hands cuffed in front of him. He looked fine otherwise.

"Doc!" I rushed towards him, nearly tripping over my own feet to get to him. One of the deputies stopped me before I actually reached him, telling me I wasn't allowed to touch him. "What happened? Where's mom? Is mom okay?" My words were all smashed together in my rush to get them all out.

"I need you to calm down, Pony." His words went in one ear and out the other. "Your mom's fine. She's at work." If mom wasn't hurt, then why wasn't I allowed to go inside? It took a second for it to dawn on me.

"I thought this was all taken care of. You were supposed to come home today, and everything was going to be fine." I sounded like a little kid, and I hated it. But I couldn't help it. My brain wasn't processing everything happening right now. "Everything was supposed to be okay by now."

"I need you to listen to me right now. Pony, listen to me." I blinked harshly, bringing my eyes up to meet his. "Go with Sweet Pea to the Wyrm. Call your mom from there, tell her I was arrested again. She'll know what to do." I nodded. "I love you, kid. Everything will be okay."

"Okay. I love you too." I took in a shaky breath and headed back to where Sweet Pea was standing on the sidewalk.

"What'd he say?"

"I'm supposed to go to the Wyrm. Then call my mom." He nodded, handing the helmet back to me. I didn't enjoy the ride across town as much as I had the first one. It felt like I blinked a single time and we were pulling to a stop outside the Wyrm. I climbed off the motorcycle. Sweet Pea gave me a look when he noticed I was just standing dumbly on the sidewalk.

"You coming?"

"I'm gonna call my mom first." Sweet Pea stared at me for a few long seconds before nodding and heading inside. My mom answered her phone on the third ring.

"I can't talk right now."

"Doc was arrested."

"I know that. I bailed him out this morning. He's already at home."

"No, I mean they arrested him again. They were there when I got home from school."

"What? Did they say why? What did Doc say?"

"To call you." I only answered her last question.

"Are you still at the house?"

"No. I'm at the Wyrm."

"Okay, I'll call you when I find something out." Then she hung up. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't really feel like going inside. So, I just stood there staring at the stop sign on the corner. My mind going a thousand miles an hour. I don't know how long I was just standing there. But eventually Toni came out to stand next to me.

"You okay?" She wrapped an arm around me, but I was too tired to return the gesture.

"What the fuck are we gonna do?" If she was surprised at my use of the word 'fuck', she didn't show it. I hadn't ever said it out loud around anyone before.

"I don't know. But we'll figure it out." I took in a long slow breath before shaking myself out of the stupor I'd found myself in. "You cool to come inside for a minute? I just need to do one quick thing and then we can get out of here."

"Sure." I followed her inside. I could feel everyone's eyes on me the second I entered the building. They'd all seemingly come to the same conclusion that I had while I was standing outside. Doc wasn't getting out for this one. He'd be locked up for a while. And now they were all giving me pitying looks. Toni stopped and said something under her breath to Fangs and Sweet Pea. They both nodded at whatever she had told them. I stood awkwardly near the front entrance. I didn't really feel like walking any farther in. Enough people could see me already. Toni grabbed her bag from behind the bar and then was walking back towards me.

"Come on."

* * *

"What are we doing here?" I questioned, looking around at the quiet trailer I was standing in the middle of. The other three had made themselves at home in what I'd been informed was Sweet Pea's cousin's trailer.

"We are drinking." Then Toni produced almost an entire bottle of vodka, a wide grin on her face.

"I-" I cut myself off. The last week and a half of my life had been a roller coaster. I needed something to shut my brain off. Something to distract me from the fact that I probably wouldn't see Doc without a piece of plexiglass between us again. I didn't even want to start down the rabbit hole that was the consequences that would fall on the newly agreed upon custody arrangement because of this. "I'm in. But fair warning, I've never gotten drunk before."

"That's fine." Toni screwed the top off the bottle, holding it out to me. I took it, bringing it up to my lips. I hesitated for a second. _Did I really want to do this?_ I did. So, I took a swig straight from the bottle. I immediately coughed after swallowing. I knew it was going to burn when it went down, but I hadn't anticipated it tasting so godawful.

"That's disgusting." I sucked in a large breath before taking another drink. I was prepared for it this time. "Still disgusting." I choked out.

"Why'd you take another drink if you think it's disgusting?" Fangs laughed from his seat on the smaller couch.

"Because I've had a really shitty week." I handed the bottle back to Toni, who took her own drink before handing the bottle off to Fangs. I dropped heavily onto the opposite end of the larger couch that Sweet Pea was sitting on. "He's done for, isn't he?" No one answering me answered my question. "So, who's gonna let me live with them when I have to run away from my dad's?"

"You're not gonna have to go back there."

"One half of my legal guardians was just arrested for the second time in twenty-four hours. There is no way in hell that my dad doesn't try and get custody of me again."

"We're pretty much at max capacity at my house. Sorry." Fangs took a drink from the bottle, passing it to Sweet Pea.

"I've barely got a place to stay half the time as it is." Toni gave me a small frown over the coffee table.

"Looks like you're staying here with Sweet Pea and Kenny." Fangs announced happily. Sweet Pea looked anything but happy about that.

"Who's Kenny?" I asked, even though I figured he was the cousin mentioned earlier.

"My cousin. He's a trucker. He's hardly ever here." I nodded, reaching for the bottle of vodka. The broody Serpent took a drink of his own before handing the bottle over. This swallow burned even less than the last one.

* * *

"I have got to stop sleeping on couches." I groaned, stretching my arms over my head. I'd fallen asleep on Sweet Pea's couch to the sounds of my friends arguing over something stupid.

"I don't know. I'm getting a lot of new blackmail material." Toni shot me a grin.

"I'd throw something at you, but the motion might make me throw up." My head was killing me, and my mouth felt like I'd eaten several cotton balls in my sleep.

"Here." Two hands appeared in front of my face. One had a red Gatorade, the other a bottle of ibuprofen. If my head hadn't hurt so much, I would've laughed at the stereotypical hangover cure.

"Thanks." I'd just swallowed the pills when my phone started ringing. My fingers fumbled slightly as I tried to answer it quickly. "Hey, mom."

"Where the hell are you!? I've been calling you all night!" I winced, holding the phone away from my ear a little as she continued to yell. "I thought you were dead in a ditch! After what happened with the Blossom kid!"

"I'm fine, mom. I'm at Sweet Pea's. I fell asleep on the couch."

"You're at Sweet Pea's? Who else is there?"

"Fangs and Toni."

"I want you home. Now."

"Okay." She hung up as soon as the word had left my mouth. "Be honest with me. How bad do I look?" I asked the room as I forced myself to stand up. The world spun for a second, but quickly was back to normal.

"Like you spent the night drinking." Fangs answered, eyes still closed. He was sprawled out on the couch across from the one I'd been asleep on. I would've kicked his hand if I wasn't positive that would've sent the room spinning again.

"You look fine. Did she say anything about Doc?"

"Nope. Just that my presence is demanded right now." I looked down at the Gatorade in my hand. "Do you think it's a good idea or a bad idea to chug this whole thing?"

"Bad. C'mon, I'll give you a ride. Tall Boy wants me at the Wyrm." Sweet Pea looked like he'd gotten a full twelve hours of sleep and not like he'd spent half the night drinking with us.

"A ride in the truck?" I asked hopefully. While I'd enjoyed the motorcycle ride, I didn't think I would've been able to handle it right now.

"Well I'm not gonna let you puke all over my bike." I nodded, made sure I had my phone and the Gatorade, and followed him outside. Neither of us said anything else the entire ride, just a small 'thank you' from me before I slid out of the truck at the end of the driveway.

"Where the hell have you been?" Mom asked, like she'd forgotten the phone conversation we'd had less than five minutes ago.

"I told you, I fell asleep at Sweet Pea's." Half of my words were muffled by her sweatshirt as she pulled me into a death grip hug.

"I was so worried. No one knew where you'd run off to. And after that whole mess with the Blossom's last night, I couldn't stop imagining you lying dead on the side of the road."

"What happened with the Blossom's last night?" I questioned. She narrowed her eyes at me, holding me at arms length.

"Have you been drinking?" My own eyes widened. So, maybe I hadn't thought out what I was going to say to my mother when she found out I'd spent the night drinking with my friends.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe? It's a yes or no question."

"Alright, yeah. I've had a bad week. I needed to blow off some steam."

"So you spent the night drinking? Are you kidding me right now?" She ran a hand over her face. I didn't answer her. I didn't think she was looking for an answer. I was right, because she started up again. "Doc was just arrested, twice! Which is no doubt going to bring down the wrath of your father, and you decide to spend the night drinking! Have you lost your mind!?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think it was a big deal." That was the wrong thing to say.

"You- Oh my god. Just, go to your room. I can't even deal with this right now." She started massaging her temples. "I have to go down to the station and see if I can find out what's going on. They wouldn't tell me anything yesterday." I didn't say anything, just stepped around her and headed for my room. After changing into some shorts and a tank top, I curled up into my blankets and unlocked my phone. Toni had mentioned new blackmail material earlier, and that no doubt meant there was a photo of me asleep on Sweet Pea's couch. I had to tap through a few selfies like I had yesterday to find the photo. Much like I'd been tucked into Fangs' side in the video yesterday, my back was pressed against Sweet Pea's side while I slept. This time however I was hugging the arm that was slung over my shoulder to me. Oh, she was definitely going to be holding onto that one for a while.

* * *

"In case anyone was wondering, my mother did not appreciate my staying out all night and drinking." I announced as I dropped my bag onto the picnic table outside the school. My mom had let me stay home and sleep off my very first hangover, but she hadn't been happy about it. I was warned that it was my one and only break. If I chose to drink on a school night again, I'd have to suffer through my hangover at school. Then she'd given me a lecture on the dangers of alcohol. It would've been much more effective if she wasn't drinking a glass of wine when she was doing it. "What happened?" I questioned when I saw the look on everyone's faces.

"Somebody got shot at Pop's this morning."

"What?" How had I not heard about this yet? Granted, mom was a little more focused on everything going on with Doc, but she definitely would've said something to me about someone getting shot. My eyes scanned the small group around the table. Everyone seemed to be in the same state of disbelief.

"We don't know anything else."

"Any word on Doc?" I shrugged, sitting down next to a blond whose name I was pretty sure was Alex, but I wasn't positive.

"Last we heard it was eighteen months." It put a heavy weight in my stomach just thinking about all the things that could happen in that amount of time. Out here, and in prison. "Any word on FP?"

"Nothing yet, but he's looking at a lot longer than Doc with the charges against him."

"Any other news any one would like to share?" I drawled sarcastically. It really couldn't get any worse.

"We're getting another transfer from Riverdale." Toni announced. Her facial features were neutral, but her eyes were excited. I couldn't think of a _single_ person in that school that she would be excited to have here. "I volunteered to show him around."

"Why?" A few of us questioned at the same time.

"Because it's FP's kid."


	13. Chapter 12

Jughead Jones was coming to Southside. I'd spoken too soon when I'd said things couldn't get worse. While I hadn't known him really at all when I was still going to Riverdale, I'd known of him. We had a few classes together over the years. I couldn't recall us ever actually speaking to each other. And I still found myself hoping he knew how to keep his mouth shut. I didn't need everyone at Southside looking at me the way they did at Riverdale. Although, Southside knew me as Pony Thomas, the girl who'd stabbed a Ghoulie and basically gotten away with it thus far. They didn't know me as Aria Thomas, the pastor's daughter who had a mental breakdown. Maybe this wasn't going to be as bad as I thought it was. Maybe I could find a way through this.

"Earth to Pony. You still here?" Fingers snapping in front of my face pulled me back into reality. I was still sitting at the picnic table outside the school. Although there were significantly less people around me now. Fangs withdrew his hand. "The bell rang like two minutes ago."

"Shit, really?" I stood up, brushing my butt off and jogging up the few steps into the school.

"You're already late, Pony. No need to rush." He called from behind me. I rolled my eyes, knowing he was right. Seeing the hallways this deserted was strange. Sure, there were a few people here and there. But for the most part there was no one. Seemed like the perfect time to get jumped by the couple Ghoulies who just appeared at the end of the hallway. I paused, wondering if they'd noticed me. The grins that spread across their face said they had. I turned on my heel, heading back to where I'd come from. I knew I should've started carrying a knife with me again. A voice from behind me startled me.

"Miss Thomas, shouldn't you be in class?" I'd never been happier to see a teacher in my life.

"I'm headed that way now. Got held up at the metal detectors." A nervous smile spread across my face as I watched the three Ghoulies walk by out of the corner of my eye. The chemistry teacher turned to pounce on them as I rushed away, heart racing and a faint tingling in my pinky fingers.

* * *

"Hey, kid." The warm smile on the other side of the bars had my throat constricting almost instantly. I realized in that moment that I'd missed Doc more than I thought I had. Mom had brought up the idea of me going to see him at the sheriff station before he was transferred to the prison an hour away. The whole way here I was afraid they wouldn't let me see him, considering I wasn't actually his kid.

"Hey."

"How're you holding up? How's your mom doing?"

"We're okay." I swallowed thickly. "We're okay. What about you?"

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"I can't help it. I'm a worrier." A few of the tears I'd been attempting to hold back leaked out of the corner of my eyes. "I worry about everything all the time."

"I know you do." Doc took a large breath in, fixing his stare on me again. "Listen to me, you stick with the Serpents, okay? Stick with them and everything will turn out alright. They'll have your backs, you and your mom, no matter what." I nodded, knowing he was telling the truth. My friends had had my back since before I started calling them my friends. They weren't just going to disappear because Doc was locked up. The question that had been nagging at my mind for the last few days slipped off my tongue before I could catch it.

"Would you be mad at me if I joined them?"

"Would I-" He was quiet for a minute. "No, I wouldn't be mad. I just want you to think it through before you make a decision. The Serpents' aren't a club you join just because your friends are members. If you're gonna be a Serpent, you're in it for life. You gotta know what you're getting into. There's no backing out."

"I know." My answer seemed to make him realize how serious I was about this. I'd been thinking about it since before he'd been arrested. The idea made me anxious and calm at the same time.

"Also, if you do end up joining, _please_ , for the love of all things holy, do not get your tattoo on your lower back. Please. For me. I don't think I could handle it if my little girl got a tramp stamp." A laugh bubbled out of me before I could stop it.

"Okay." The door clicked open behind me, meaning the deputy was here to escort me back out into the waiting area.

"I love you, Pony. Everything's gonna work out. Don't you forget that."

"I love you too." I gave him one last smile before following the deputy out of the room. After mom finished signing some paperwork, we were on our way to school. I'd missed first period for this. But neither of us really cared. I didn't bring up what I'd asked him about, knowing it would only worry her. She might've been married to a Serpent, but my mother still had reservations about them. Especially now that Doc was looking at over a year in prison.

* * *

"How'd this morning go?" I was sitting at a tall table in the Wyrm. My folded arms laying on the table top, my head resting on my arms. Toni was sitting across the table from me.

"Fine." My voice caught in my throat, giving away just how not fine it had been.

"You wanna talk about it?" I thought about ignoring the flood of emotions rushing through me and just telling my pink haired best friend that I was good. But the whole point of me moving to the Southside, moving in with mom and Doc, had been me improving on myself. I wasn't supposed to be holding it all inside anymore. I had to let it out, so that it didn't all come out at once and end up like it had before.

"He's been more of a dad to me than my actual dad. And now for the next year and half, I'll only be able to see him through a sheet of plexiglass." I buried my face in the crook of my elbow, letting a few tears fall. I was, after all, in the middle of a bar. I didn't really want all of these people seeing me bawling. A small hand brushed over the top of my head calmly, waiting for me to pull it together.

"I'm sorry, Pony." Toni's voice was quiet, just loud enough for me to hear.

"He does this thing, always making sure to tell me he loves me pretty much every time we talk." I lifted my head up again, not caring that my eye makeup was probably a disaster. "I asked my mom about it once. His dad was the same way with him that mine is with me, worse even. She said he wanted to make sure that I knew I was loved no matter what. No matter what I'd always have him in my corner."

"I'm sorry." Toni repeated herself, leaning over to hug me. I returned the hug, squeezing her a little tighter than necessary. "I'm also really sorry to tell you that you need to go to the bathroom and fix your face." A laughed bubbled out of my throat as I pulled away from her.

"That bad, huh?"

"Your eyeliner is good. Your mascara though." She cringed dramatically.

"Alright, alright. I'll be right back." I slid off the stool, heading towards the bathroom. The lighting in the bathroom was horrendous, but she hadn't been wrong. I looked a mess. With a wet paper towel, I dabbed the mascara away from my skin around my eyes. I rejoined the group after I'd deemed myself at least semi-presentable. I should've stayed in the bathroom. Because my mom was standing on the middle platform of the stairs, shouting and clearly drunk. I was too shocked by the state of her to even try and get her to stop.

"None of you! Not one of you helped him out! They offered him a deal! He could've gotten probation if he'd flipped on you idiots! I told him to do it! How else am I supposed to pay for my house or my kid without his money?" A dark-haired lady tried to quietly get her to go down the stairs, offering her a ride home. "Don't touch me! I don't need you! I don't need any of you! What I need is my husband to not be in prison!" Then she tried to get herself down the short flight of stairs. She stumbled on the last few stairs. The only reason she didn't land on her face was the man who caught her.

"Let's get you home, Molly." I couldn't even get my limbs to work as they passed by where I was still standing in the poorly lit hallway. As soon as the man who'd caught her from falling and the woman who had tried to talk her down were outside, all eyes turned towards me. My cheeks burned with embarrassment. I didn't even know how to respond to what everyone had just witnessed.

"We should probably get you home, Pony." I nodded dumbly. The fact that I hadn't been able to ask Toni the question that had been on the tip of my tongue all day didn't even register with me until much later that night.

* * *

I spent my entire weekend making sure my mom didn't drown in her own vomit while she continued the bender she'd started on Friday night. I felt like I hadn't slept a single second since I'd woken up on Friday morning when I stepped through the broken metal detector at the school on Monday morning. Fangs confirmed that I looked like I felt the second he laid his eyes on me.

"You look like shit."

"Thanks." I deadpanned, coming to a stop between him and Sweet Pea. "Do you think you guys could just carry me to all my classes today? I'm too tired to walk any farther."

"Not happening." I didn't protest at Sweet Pea's answer. I hadn't actually expected them to say yes to my request.

"Where's Toni?"

"Showing Jones around, or she's supposed to be. Last I saw she was still waiting for him at the front entrance." I'd forgotten about that. Great. So not only did I have to deal with a drunk mom, I had to figure out how to make sure Jughead didn't spill any of my Northside secrets without drawing attention to it. I let out a groan, resting my forehead against Fangs' shoulder. I did not get enough sleep to be dealing with this. "What's up?"

"I spent all weekend babysitting my drunk mother. I'm exhausted." I picked my head up, frown on my face. "I'm pretty sure she's _still_ drunk." Neither of them said anything. "What did you guys do this weekend?"

"Nothing productive." Fangs snorted. The retort forming in my mind died quickly as I caught sight of a group standing at the end of the hallway. They all had little paper straws in their hands. My nose wrinkled. I couldn't pinpoint exactly when Jingle Jangle had sprung up in our school, but it was everywhere now. If felt like someone around every corner was either buying it or selling it. I wondered briefly how many kids at Riverdale High were taking it. It might've been less obvious up there, but they were as bad as the kids here. Plus, they had rich parents to get them out of any trouble they got into if they got caught. "Hey, we're going to the quarries tomorrow after school. Don't make any other plans. It's Pea's turn to be sober cab." I might've spent all weekend taking care of a drunk mom but getting drunk at the quarries with my friends sounded fantastic. Last time I'd been mostly successful at forgetting about all my problems.

"You mean with my abundance of other friends?" I drawled sarcastically. Fangs shoved my shoulder. I laughed as I righted my balance.

"Shut up and go to class." I was still smiling when I dropped into my seat a few minutes later. The rest of my classes before lunch flew by quickly. None of my usual friends were present, but one of the blonde Serpent girls waved me over to the empty spot at their table. She was quick to comment on my lipstick and eyeliner, asking me what I used. The table fell into a steady conversation about makeup. Twenty minutes later, Toni was dropping into the seat beside me.

"Where's Jones?" I'd seen his signature beanie following Toni around all morning. Now, he was nowhere to be found.

"He decided to sit by himself." I mentally cringed. No one commented on the obvious. He was in for a rough time when the Ghoulies found out who he was. Because even if he chose not to associate with the Serpents, his dad was basically _the_ Southside Serpent. They'd be going after him eventually.


	14. Chapter 13

"Hey, mom, is it cool if I go out with Toni? I'll be back before curfew." She paused her movements, looking up from the onion she was chopping to where I was standing. Neither of us had mentioned this weekend. We just pretended it hadn't happened. Honestly, I wasn't even sure she remembered it.

"Where are you going?"

"The quarries."

"So, you mean you two plus a bunch of other Serpents?"

"Uh, yeah." I bounced lightly on the balls of my feet. It was clear how she felt about the Serpents now. It was also clear that she wasn't thrilled about me going out at night with the Black Hood running rampant through Riverdale.

"Alright. Be careful." She started to chop the onion again, then paused. "And I mean in the sense of don't have a repeat of last time, and also in the sense of I'm too young to be a grandma yet." She went back to chopping, albeit a little more forcefully than before.

"Mom!" My jaw dropped open.

"What? All I'm saying is you're a teenager. You may think I don't know what goes on out there, but I do. And I would really appreciate it if you didn't end up giving me a grandchild anytime in the near future." She pointed the knife in her hand at me.

"I can absolutely promise you that will not be happening." I turned back towards my room to finish getting ready. Really not wanting to continue the conversation she was trying to start.

"Okay! But if you do, please use a condom!" I shut my door loudly so she knew I wasn't listening to her anymore. In my room, I rifled through my closet looking for a certain pair of jeans. My favorite pair; dark wash skinny jeans that tucked perfectly into my black boots. Once I'd shimmied those over my hips, I pulled the tank top I had on over my head. The door flew open before I could pull on another shirt.

"Oh, shit, sorry." Toni stood in the back doorway.

"It's fine." It had been bound to happen eventually. She'd long since given up on knocking before opening my door. I gave her a small smile as I pulled a light grey long sleeve shirt on. "I just need my boots and a hat, and I'll be ready."

"You're wearing that?" I looked down at my outfit at her question.

"What's wrong with it?" I glanced up at her before going back to jamming my feet into my boots.

"Nothing, it's just- It's tighter than what you usually wear. I don't know if we're to this point in our friendship, but I guess I never realized your boobs were that big."

"They haven't been." I answered her, rummaging through my dresser. "I've been eating more lately, so they had a growth spurt. All of me did really. It's why almost none of my freaking pants fit." My fingers finally closed on a beanie in the back of the bottom drawer. I tugged the hat over my ears. "Alright, I'm ready."

"Perfect. Let's roll." Toni shut the back door and made her way through the kitchen to the front. I followed behind her, pausing to press a kiss to my mom's cheek as I passed her.

"Bye mom. Love you."

"Love you too! Remember, stay safe!" She shouted after me. I rolled my eyes before following Toni outside. She was approaching a familiar truck.

"Sweet Pea's giving us a ride up there." I'd figured as much when Fangs said it was his turn to sober cab. The ride wasn't entirely comfortable, all four of us crammed into the cab. But with the radio blaring and the wind whipping through the truck, it was still fun. The smile on my face couldn't've gotten any bigger. My heart skipped a beat when I saw just how big the group that had gathered was. But I took a deep breath and dropped out of the truck. I was determined to let loose tonight.

* * *

Four hours later, the sun had long since set and I was having more fun than I thought I was going to have. That might've been the three beers I'd downed though. Someone had music playing loudly. A few people were dancing, including myself. Initially Toni had dragged me out into the small group. But now I was dancing with some guy whose name I couldn't remember, laughing loudly when he said something I couldn't make out over the music.

"Pony, c'mon, it's time to go home." Toni wedged herself between me and the guy.

"Why? I'm fine."

"You're not fine. You don't even know this guy. _I_ don't even know this guy." She sent him a glare. "And while I don't really have a problem with it, I know you would if you hadn't been drinking. So, I'm taking you home before you do something else you'll regret."

"You didn't even drive here. How are you gonna take me home?"

"Okay, Pea is gonna take us home. But you're leaving. Let's go." I frowned at her but followed her to the truck we'd arrived in. "Stay here. I'll be right back." I nodded, standing in the exact spot she'd left me. What felt like seconds later, Toni and a slightly pissed Sweet Pea showed up.

"Hi." I grinned at them.

"I thought you said you were gonna watch her." Sweet Pea shot at Toni, unlocking the doors.

"I was. I left her alone for like ten minutes." Toni snapped back, trying to get me to climb into the truck faster. I smacked at her hands, getting myself into the cab.

"Yeah, you kept an eye on her while you were flirting with that blonde chick all night."

"Shut up." She snapped again, this time with a little more heat. I kept my mouth shut, opting to reach up and take off my hat. I was really hot all of a sudden. Taking my hat off didn't help the heat pouring from my skin, so I piled my hair on top of my head, holding it there when I realized I didn't have a ponytail holder.

"I thought we all agreed that after last time, you were in charge of making sure she didn't disappear again."

"I swear to God, Pea, if you don't shut up, I'm gonna-"

"What? You're gonna what?" The pair continued to bicker until we pulled up to a trailer that was on the complete opposite side of the park than my house.

"What are we doing here?"

"I'm not wasting gas driving all over town. Yours is first. Get out. Have a nice rest of your night."

"Asshole." Toni rolled her eyes but swung the door open. "Bye, Pony."

"Bye, Toni!" I called after her, the thought not even crossing my mind to slide into the seat she'd just vacated. Then it was just me and Sweet Pea for a few minutes while he drove towards my house. It was weird, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all. Again, that might've been the alcohol I'd had earlier. I was quickly learning that it made me care less about what other people thought of me. "Thanks, Sweet Pea." I stated as he pulled to a stop at the end of my driveway. "You're the best." I leaned up and pressed a kiss to his cheek before sliding across the seat and exiting the truck. It took me a few tries to get the door unlocked with the spare key we kept tucked behind a fake doorbell. The truck idling where it was until I'd shut the door behind me.

* * *

"Three things we need to talk about." Toni bombarded me the next day at school. I'd barely had time to open my locker before she was at my side.

"Okay." I answered lamely. The ibuprofen I'd taken this morning hadn't kicked in yet. And while I'd definitely had worse headaches, I still had a headache in a hallway full of high school students. It wasn't the greatest situation.

"First, the Ghoulies jumped Jughead last night." I wasn't sure why I was supposed to care about this at first. We weren't friends. We barely had ever spoken. But then it occurred to me that it was supposed to matter because he was technically the same status as me; not really a Serpent but had a dad who was a high-ranking member of the Serpents. Oh man, he was in for it if he thought they were just gonna leave him alone. Especially Toni, she was the most persistent of the bunch and she had a penchant for befriending Northsiders.

"Is he okay?"

"He'll be fine. Although, he's lying to his girlfriend about it." I didn't comment on the attitude in the last part of her statement. "Second, turns out you don't just get tired when you drink. You were actually a lot of fun last night. Although, maybe you should hold off on drinking on school nights." I wasn't going to argue with that point. I'd thought it myself when I'd woken up this morning and realized I needed to get to school.

"Alright, what's the last thing?"

"You kissed Sweet Pea last night?" I almost dropped the history book in my hand.

"I did not." The words were out of my mouth immediately.

"Apparently he went to pick up Fangs after dropping us off last night and he had this look on his face. So, Fangs asked him what his deal was, and Sweet Pea said you kissed him."

"That is not what happened!" I protested, too loudly. A few heads turned our way. A quick glare from Toni had them turning away. "I- Oh my god. I kissed his cheek. I did not _actually_ kiss him."

"Oh, are we talking about your new boyfriend?" Fangs popped up out of nowhere, throwing an arm over my shoulders. "You really did a number on him, Pony." He had a giant grin on his face.

"I didn't- You- I hate both of you." I finally settled on after struggling to come up with something to say. The three of us started walking down the hallway towards the split where we parted ways. "Seriously, why am I friends with either of you?"

"'Cause you love us." Fangs answered my rhetorical question. "Although, not as much as you love Sweets, apparently." Toni let out a loud laugh. I ducked out from under Fangs' arm, scowl on my face. I turned to walk backwards for a second to stare the pair of them down.

"I hope both of you die very painful deaths before the day is over." Then I spun on my heels, turning to walk forwards again. Only I ended up running smack into another body. I prayed for a split second that it was anyone, _anyone_ , other than Sweet Pea, then opened my eyes. My prayers had not been answered. "Hey." My voice could only be described as a squeak.

"Hey." He didn't look or sound bothered at all. The warning bell rang before anyone could say anything else.

"Well, guess I better get to class!" My cheeks burned as I ducked around the tall Serpent and headed off down the hallway to first period. Thankfully, none of them were in the class with me.

* * *

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me." I groaned to myself as I walked into the lunch room. My usual seat next to Toni was occupied by our most recent transfer. The only space open at the table was right next to Sweet Pea. And while I wouldn't have considered that a problem yesterday, now it was like an open invitation for Fangs and Toni to crack any and all jokes at my expense. Just as I was contemplating skipping lunch, my pink haired friend spotted me. I plastered a smile on my face and headed towards the table. I deposited my backpack on the table in front of Jughead. "Hey, I'm Pony Thomas." I introduced myself hoping to avoid anything Toni had to say. Apparently, I didn't need to introduce myself though. He already knew who I was.

"This is where you disappeared to?" His eyebrows drew together for a moment.

"Oh, good. You know who I am." I mumbled, dropping on the bench seat.

"After that thing with the baseball team last year, you're kind of infamous on the Northside."

"Awesome." I could feel Toni and Sweet Pea's eyes locked on me, waiting for an explanation. Toni was still trying to get out of me what the incident was that Joaquin had heard about. I hadn't given her a single detail. Now here Jughead was to spill the beans.

"What happened with the baseball team?" I shrugged noncommittally at Toni's question. Instead I opted to focus my energy on peeling the clementine I'd produced from my bag. "Is this the same thing Joaquin was talking about?"

"I'd rather not talk about it." I finally said after they'd continued to stare at me. The look I shot at Jughead had him clamping his mouth shut. I felt a little bad for him. He was definitely having a rougher start here than I had. Sure, I'd taken an elbow to the face and _almost_ gotten jumped by the Ghoulies. But he actually had gotten jumped. The bruises and cuts decorating his face made me cringe. There was no doubt more damage than I could see. The Ghoulies wouldn't've restricted themselves to hitting him just in the face.

"Great, Pony, you're here." Fangs slammed his pre-calc book on the end of the table between myself and Jughead. He scared me so much I'd nearly ripped the clementine in my hands in half.

"Christ, Fangs. Make some noise when you walk."

"It's not my fault you were distracted." He looked just like he had this morning in the hallway when he was teasing me about Sweet Pea. I dropped the fruit on the table and reached for his homework. Hoping to cut off whatever else he was going to say.

"What do you need help with?" I spent the rest of the lunch period helping Fangs with his homework. As I was walking towards my locker to get everything I needed for my next class, a hand caught my elbow. For a split second I thought the Ghoulies were looking to make another move. I whirled around, prepared to see a bunch of them standing behind me. But it was only Jughead. "Don't do that! Christ, I thought you were a Ghoulie!"

"Sorry." He withdrew his outstretched hand. "I was just curious, how long have you been a Serpent?"

"I'm not." He looked confused at my answer. "I guess you and I could be considered the same, Serpent adjacent. Your dad's a Serpent. My step-dad's a Serpent." I let out a sigh, running a hand through my hair. "They come on a little strong, but they're good people."

"They're _Serpents_." His words came out fast, like the distaste had been programmed into him.

"Yeah, so?" I shot back. "This place might seem rough," he scoffed, but I kept going, "but it's treated me better than the Northside ever did."

* * *

 _A/N: I apologize for such a long wait. Life has seriously gotten in the way of pretty much everything I do for fun. And it doesn't look like it'll be letting up anytime soon. Also, I don't think I've said this yet, but thank you to those of you who have taken the time to write a review! Even just the two word ones put the stupidest smile on my face! Let me know how you feel about this one._


	15. Chapter 14

"I'm not gonna need a ride to school anymore." I announced to Fangs and Toni as I stepped up to our usual lunch table.

"Why not?" Toni questioned, barely giving me a glance. She was too busy typing away on the laptop sitting in front of her.

"I just went and took my driver's test. I passed." I tried to keep my expression neutral, but half a second later, I had a face splitting grin spreading across my features. When my mom had woken me up early this morning, the last thing I'd expected was her to drive me to the testing center. But that's where we'd gone. And despite the fact that I hadn't been practicing since summer, I'd passed the test with flying colors. She'd handed over the keys to Doc's truck, telling me it was my responsibility now.

"That's awesome!" Fangs let out an excited shout. He was wrapping me in a hug and lifting me off the ground before I could react. He spun us in a circle, making me laugh loudly.

"What's going on?" Not even Sweet Pea's usual grumpy mood could bring my spirits down. I simply smiled at him while Fangs put me back on the ground.

"You don't have to drive me around anymore."

"Thank God." Was all he said. I rolled my eyes, not caring that he didn't care. The awkwardness from yesterday was forgotten in my excitement. I could go where ever I wanted without having to talk someone into taking me. He dropped into the middle seat at the table, taking over the laptop that Toni had been using. "Have you guys seen this?" Several of us gathered behind him. My eyebrows rose when he pressed play on a video. Surrounded by a bunch of guys in masks was Archie Andrews, Jughead's best friend, threatening the Black Hood. No doubt the guys with him were a bunch of jocks from Riverdale. I was so wrapped up in the fact that I knew the guys on the video, I missed most of what he'd actually said. I reached around Sweet Pea and pressed replay when the video ended. This time I heard every word. And it made my stomach churn. This was not going to end well. Jughead approached the table just as the second play through was ending.

"Hey, I'm guessing we're not watching funny cat videos?" _Oh, Jughead, you have no idea._

"Check this out." Sweet Pea spun the laptop around so that Jughead could see the screen. "Some sick in the head Northsider posted a crazy ass video, and, uh, we were just talking." Everyone in the immediate vicinity was watching the way Jughead would react. I was nearly one hundred percent positive that I was the only one who knew the 'sick in the head Northsider' was Jughead's best friend.

"About what?"

"Fogarty wants to earn his Serpent stripes. I say he brings us the head of that Northsider, and he's in."

"I'm down with that." Fangs cracked the knuckles on one hand, staring down Jughead while Sweet Pea laughed. I barely contained my eyeroll at that. Yeah, Fangs could probably kick almost anyone's ass, but he was a teddy bear. Plus, he was technically already a Serpent. He'd gone through his initiation before I'd made friends with them. He just hadn't done anything crazy to prove himself yet.

"No, wait, guys,"

"What, Jones?"

"I know this guy. He's milquetoast. Alright, he's a football player. It's kind of a lame target is all I'm saying." _Way to not be obvious, Jones._ I didn't hold back my eyeroll at that. He'd have to try a little harder than that if he didn't want them going after Archie. "You wanna prove something? Why don't you go after the Black Hood?" Wrong move. I knew these idiots. They didn't care that the Black Hood was out there. So far, he hadn't gone after anyone connected to the Southside. No one here was acting like the Northside was. Our party at the quarries the night after a Riverdale High student had gotten shot sort of proved that. The words out of Sweet Pea's mouth next proved me right.

"And why would we do that? The Black Hood's targeting Northsiders, who do nothing but blame the Southside for everything that's wrong with this town. And we're sick of it. The Black Hood's doing our work for us. He's a hero."

* * *

"I'm coming! Relax!" I shouted at whoever was on the other side of the door. I'd been in the middle of making myself a sandwich for dinner when a flurry of furious knocking sounded from the back door. By the time I made it to the door, they'd graduated from knocking to pounding. We hadn't had many visitors since Doc had been arrested. Anyone who needed fixing up found someone else to help them out now that he wasn't here. I kicked a pair of sneakers out of the way as I yanked the door open. Sweet Pea barged in, pushing past me. "Sure, come on in." He didn't look amused at my sarcasm.

"You know that psycho in the video." It wasn't a question. It was a statement. He knew that I knew who it was in the Red Circle video. "I wanna know where to find him."

"I'm not being an accomplice to whatever you have planned for him."

"He pulled a gun on us last night." He countered, making my heart stop for a second. No one had told me that.

"What?" I croaked out.

"He pulled a gun on us last night outside Hansen's."

"Did you say something to someone?"

"Hansen called the cops. But we're not letting him get away with this." He stared down at me. My brain was having a hard time comprehending what he'd just told me. I could see the Andrews' house in my head, and I could see in my head how to get there. But I couldn't remember the actual address of the house or any street names. The harder I tried, the less I could remember.

"I don't know the address."

"Dammit, Northside!" He pushed past me again, headed for the door behind me.

"I don't know the address, but I know the house. I can take you there." I called, turning to follow him. He paused in the doorway.

"Lead the way." It took me less than thirty seconds to grab the keys to Doc's truck and pull some shoes and a hoodie on. I faltered mid-step when I saw how many Serpents were waiting outside my house to go after Archie. _What was I getting myself into?_ With a deep breath, I hauled myself into the driver's seat of the old pickup. They followed behind me all the way to the Northside and the Andrews' house. The rumble of their motorcycles melded with the thunder rumbling in the sky. Usually I loved rain. The sound of rain falling was one of the most calming sounds in the world to me. But the worry and panic I was feeling outweighed the calming affect it had. I'd just brought a bunch of Serpents directly to Archie Andrews. And they definitely were not going to just be having a nice chitchat. _What did I just do?_ I watched as Sweet Pea and some of the Serpents he'd brought with him walked up onto the porch. To get rid of some of my nervous energy, I started tapping my fingers rapidly on the steering wheel. My pinky fingers were starting to tingle, and the ringing in my ears was growing. This was such a bad idea.

The door opened just as they approached it. Archie and a dark-haired girl I didn't recognize were standing there. Then the door opened wider and Reggie Mantle stepped into view. My heart leapt into my throat while my stomach dropped. _What was he doing here?_ Yeah, he was on the football team with Archie. But they'd barely been acquaintances when I'd left the Northside. They weren't good enough friends to be hanging out with each other. Or at least they hadn't been. Maybe now they were, what did I know? Less than thirty seconds later, the Serpents were headed back to their bikes. Sweet Pea stopped at my window. I rolled it down, biting my lip to keep the sick feeling at bay.

"Go home." Was all he said.

"What?"

"Go home, Pony." He called over the thunder.

"I'm not going home! I brought you directly to Andrews, I need to know what's gonna happen."

"Go home. Get Doc's med kit out." Then he got on his bike and they all rode off. I didn't move until the Bulldogs started filing out of Archie's house. The drive back to my house didn't calm me down a single bit. Toni called me just as I was stepping back into my bedroom.

"Hey, get Doc's med kit out. There's a brawl going down."

"I know." I put her on speaker as I pulled the med kit down from the top of the fridge.

"You know? How do you know?"

"I told them where they could find Archie Andrews."

"Who?"

"The guy from the Red Circle video."

"What?!" I didn't answer her. She'd definitely heard me right. Instead I busied myself with rummaging around the large bag now sitting on the table. We were running low on gauze and suture kits. Not that I'd be stitching anyone up. I had no idea where to even start with that. I had no idea what to do with a lot of injuries. Maybe I should start learning some things. "Are you kidding me? Why would you do that?"

"I don't know." Although, at this point, I did know why I'd done it. Why I'd spoken up and told Sweet Pea I did know where he could find Andrews. Because he'd called me Northside. And I didn't want to be Northside Aria. I much preferred being Southside Pony.

"Jesus, Pony."

"Too late to take it back now." I pulled the freezer open, taking stock of how many ice packs we had. Only four, plus a couple bags of frozen veggies. Toni sighed loudly through the phone.

"I'll be over in a few minutes. Hopefully no one gets hurt too badly."

* * *

The only one who'd seriously gotten hurt was Dilton Doiley. According to the sheriff, he'd been stabbed by Southside Serpents. According to the Serpents, Doiley had stabbed himself. Regardless of who'd stabbed him, he'd ended up in the hospital. Which lead to the doctors calling the police. Which lead to some of the Serpents getting rounded up. Plus me. Some of the Bulldogs had reported seeing me in the truck outside the Andrews' house before the fight and had assumed that I'd been the one driving the pickup to the fight with several other Serpents in it. I'd been sitting in the sheriff station for half an hour when my mom came storming in. I'd watched wide-eyed while she demanded to know why her sixteen-year-old daughter had been hauled into the station and if I wasn't being arrested then she was taking me home. She'd been yelling so loudly that Sheriff Keller stepped out of his office to see what all the commotion was. I would've been extremely embarrassed if it hadn't been so awesome. The nerves that had been coursing through me since I'd been escorted to the deputy's car hit me calmed a little when I stepped out into the early morning air.

"I have to get back to the store, can you get one of your friends to give you a ride home?" My mom questioned. She sounded exhausted. Which was understandable. I couldn't count how many times she'd been to the sheriff station in the past two weeks.

"Yeah, sure." I didn't mention that two of my three friends were probably still in the building behind us. I also didn't mention that I didn't have my phone on me, so I couldn't call anyone. I'd figure it out. She nodded. It hit me like a ton of bricks two minutes after I'd watched her disappear around the corner. The Black Hood. I was standing on a deserted sidewalk, in the middle of the night, while there was a serial killer running loose in Riverdale. The panic set in immediately, going straight past the tingling in my fingers directly to my ears ringing. I was struggling to keep my breathing even when I felt someone approach me from behind. I slammed my elbow back into them without even looking to see who it was.

"Jesus." The gruff voice was familiar.

"Jesus Christ, Sweet Pea! You scared the shit out of me!" I whirled around.

"What are you doing here?"

"The same thing as you." I ran a shaky hand through my hair, letting out a slow breath. The gravity of the situation settled into me.

"What?"

"Keller picked me up because someone saw me outside Andrews' house. They probably wanted to know if I knew anything about the fight."

"Probably? Did no one actually talk to you?"

"No. My mom basically threatened them all and then hauled me out here."

"Molly was here? Why didn't she take you home?"

"She had to get back to work." This was starting to feel like the interrogation that I'd avoided minutes ago.

"And what about the Black Hood?" I wanted to snap at him and say that according to him the Black Hood only went after Northsiders so I'd be fine. But I knew he still considered me a Northsider. He'd reverted back to my old nickname earlier when he'd demanded to know where Archie Andrews lived. So instead of saying anything, I just shrugged. "So, a serial killer doesn't scare you?"

"I didn't say that." I rolled my eyes. I just needed him to leave me alone for a few minutes so I could calm myself down. "I can't really demand that my mom bring me home after making her leave work to come drag me out of the sheriff station. We're not really in a great position for her to be losing her job." My words were snippy, and usually I wouldn't've dared talk to Sweet Pea that way. But I was still panicking. I took a deep breath, pacing up and down the sidewalk.

"Would you calm down?" I spun around at his words, slamming my hands into his chest. He took a step backwards. The sudden fire in his eyes undoubtedly matching the one in my own. I might've actually _needed_ to calm down, but I didn't need him acting like my panicking was an inconvenience for him. Which was exactly the tone he'd just taken with me.

"This may be a thing that happens to you, but I've never been hauled in by the police in the middle of the night!"

"I didn't make you take us to Andrews. You did that all on your own." I scoffed at his response.

"You didn't really give me a choice. It was either take you to Andrews or-"

"Or what?" He challenged, glaring down at me.

"Or settle myself right back into the Northsider box! I'm not one of them, and you know it!"

"All I _know_ is you flipped out on some baseball players, destroyed their cars, somehow avoided charges for it all, and then were depositing yourself into our lives like you'd been there the whole time." All the air was sucked out of my lungs in an instant. The look on his face told me that was the exact reaction he'd been hoping for.

"Who told you that?" The voice I'd just been practically yelling at him with now sounded like a meek, scolded kindergartner.

"I heard Jones telling Toni about it."

"So _everybody_ knows?" The panic I'd forgotten about momentarily came back in a rush. I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. I needed to get out of here. It wasn't exactly smart, it never was when I decided to just take off, but I turned on my heel on the sidewalk and starting walking quickly. It was a long walk back to the Southside. But I couldn't just stand there knowing they all knew now.

* * *

 _A/N: There is literally no reason that this has taken so long to upload except that I started school and it's taking up way more time than I thought it was going to._


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